Indiana Secures Third Win in Eight Days | Sentinels SWEEP Prowlers Over the Weekend

The Indiana Sentinels have been on a hot streak as of late securing 3 of the team’s 4 wins on the season over the last 8 days. The Sents’ have garnered a bit of a reputation for being road warriors with all 4 victories coming away from home this season. I’m sure the hometown crowd would like those wins to happen in the team’s own barn but the first home win in franchise history will have to wait; the fans will have to look ahead to the squad’s next 5 games coming at home. Now is the time for Indiana to find their stride. For now there is much to celebrate and the team as well as their fans should be excited and confident heading into the weekend. 

This past Friday and Saturday night the Sentinels made their way up to Port Huron for their 2-game series against the Prowlers. The Prowlers are a foe that Indiana is familiar with having played 3 times beforehand. The Sents’ catching Port Huron off guard during the first contest, defeating the cats in a  9 - 3 blowout. Port Huron would capture the next 2 games although by much slimmer margins. The Sentinels came into the weekend hungry and confident after splitting the prior weekend with the Watertown Wolves while securing the team’s second win in franchise history. 

Friday night’s contest saw the Prowers take an early 2 - 0 lead with goals scored by Jamie Buccell & Austin Fetterly with 11 minutes left to play in the opening period. Nolan Dawson found the back of the net just before the break to cut the deficit in half while the intermission score read 2 - 1 in favor of Port Huron. The second period began with team’s trading blows but both goaltenders holding strong while neither gave up an inch, but with 7:26 remaining in the second #42 Ethan Esposito put one past the goaltender to tie the game for the Sents’. 5 minutes later Esposito would bounce another shot off the post, deflecting off of the back of the tender’s sweater and winding up in the goal to give Indiana their first lead of the night. 

Alex Johnson would tie things up at 3 goals a piece at the 4:38 mark of the final frame. The Sentinels needed something to break their way; they knew they had to find a way to put the Prowlers away and prove to them and the league that the first win at McMorran Place Arena wasn’t a fluke. The Sentinels would get their break from one of the team’s best defensemen, #55 Ivan Ponivanov, who found a beautiful outlet pass from #90 Romeo Torain and ripped one into the nylon. 4 - 3 Sentinels. Indiana would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the contest and secure their 3rd win in franchise history and 2nd win in a row.

The real battle began Saturday Night when the Prowlers were looking to get their licks back on an expansion franchise and a team that had fought back to .500 with Port Huron, a veteran loaded team and a franchise that has been around for over 10 years. They wanted theirs and they were going to get it. The only problem was a little known rookie by the name of Denver Craig. The rookie sensation out of Carp, ON Canada played just 3 games for the Toronto Flyers of the GMHL before being picked up by the Bobcats of the FPHL where he didn’t see much playing time, only appearing in 4 games and securing 0 points on the stat sheet. He was picked up by the Sentinels and hasn’t looked back. 

Craig put 2 quick goals into the net before the 10 minute mark of the opening period Saturday Night and Port Huron was left playing catch up, regardless of how bad they needed a win to not only get things back on track for their squad but to also snap a 5-game losing streak the team found themselves in. Unfortunately for the Prowlers, #26 Zac Horn put away his first goal of the series to make the score 3 - 0 to really pour salt in the wound. The Sents’ would go on to secure the victory in a 4 - 2 final contest of their feline opponents. The Sents’ will be back at home this following weekend at the Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena as they take on the Wolves of Watertown. Do they have what it takes to keep this train rolling down the tracks? Join us at 7:35 PM Eastern time on December 19th for puck drop - OR - be sure the catch all of the action streaming live on YouTube and Sporfie.