Bobcats Tie Franchise Record for Single Game Goals, Trounce Wolves 12-4

WYTHEVILLE, VA-

Before a crowd of 2,140 at Hitachi Energy Arena on what was dubbed "A Killer Night", the Blue Ridge Bobcats took to the Friday the 13th theme and unleashed a franchise-record tying 12 goals in a 12-4 trouncing of the Watertown Wolves.

Watertown got the scoring started just over a minute in, taking advantage of a bit of a slow start from the Bobcats when Marquis Grant-Mentis converted on a defensive zone turnover and beat Anthony Shrum over the shoulder to make it 1-0. Blue Ridge responded by building consecutive solid shifts, and eventually Nick Stuckless converted just under five minutes into the opening frame off a beautiful setup from Nikita Kozyrev.

The Bobcats were very far from done there, and neither was Stuckless who struck again just 1:56 later when he redirected a shot from Timothy St Pierre home on the man advantage for what eventually served as the game winning goal and put Blue Ridge up for good at 2-1. Captain Danny Martin followed 92 seconds later at 8:16 of the first, one-timing a shot past Breandan Colgan thanks to a terrific rinkwide feed from Dustin Jesseau to make it 3-1. Just 18 seconds after that #13 Justin Daly continued the horror holiday barrage on Friday the 13th sniping a wrist shot over the shoulder of Colgan to make it a 4-1 game and force Watertown to turn to Matt Lenz in goal for the remainder of the contest.

Lenz did not have much better luck, as Jesseau put a cap on a 5-goal first period scoring with exactly two minutes left in it to carry a 5-1 lead into the first intermission. 

Darion Benchich scored just under 2 minutes into period two for the Wolves, briefly bringing them back withing three and beginning the longest scoreless stretch of the contest. Benchich's marker at 1:41 wasn't followed until the 16:46 mark of the middle frame when Nikita Kozyrev used fancy footwork to find time and space and snap a high slot wrist shot past Lenz to restore the Bobcats 4 goal advantage. Cole Oullete took advantage of a friendly carom off the back glass and batted the puck home in the final minute of the second to bring Watertown back to as close as they would come, as the score stood 6-3 heading to period three.

Just 35 seconds into the final frame, Demid Podrezov scored his first goal as a Bobcats and first North American professional goal, banking a wrist shot off a Watertown defender and into the back of the net to make it a 7-3 game. Kozyrev then added his second of the night unassisted at 4:33 to make it 8-3.

The final Wolves goal on the night came off the stick of Steven Klinck at 5:36, but was swiftly answered just 13 seconds later by former Wolf Zach Ross at 5:49 to make the score 9-4.

Just 16 seconds after Ross, Stuckless completed his hat trick on the night, picking up a deflected puck and potting it into the back of the net unassisted at 6:05 and put Blue Ridge into double digits at 10-4. Timothy St. Pierre answered Podrezov with both his first goal as a Bobcat and first North American pro goal just before the halfway mark of the final frame, one-timing a puck home and popping the bottle behind Lenz on the power play thanks to a great setup by Martin. Daly capped off the night at 14:30 and tied the single-game franchise record for goals with his second of the evening, another backdoor one tee that put an exclamation point on the eventual 12-4 final.

Daly's three point night earned him third star. Kozyrev's 4 point performance (2G, 1A) netted him second star. Stuckless' 5 point night (3G, 2A) notched him first star honors on an epic evening.

Both teams rematch at Hitachi Energy Arena for Valentine's Night tomorrow and meet for the fifth and final time in the regular season. Tickets, including 2 for $30 Lover's Packs, are on sale at blueridgebobcats.com/tickets, by calling 276-335-2100 or stopping by the arena box office.