The Chesapeake Bayhawks the Atlanta Blaze at Navy Marine Corps Stadium Thursday night riding a three game winning streak looking to drop a fourth straight mark into the left column to inch closer to a playoff spot. After a rocky start, Chesapeake improved their record to 8-4 extinguishing the Blaze by a final of 18-13.
The Bayhawks looked flat opening the contest losing the first two faceoffs, turning the ball over on two of their first three possessions and tossing as easy a shot into Atlanta goalie Adam Ghitelman’s stick as he’s likely faced all season. Chesapeake’s slow start sparked the Blaze to an early 2-0 lead.
Following a timely media timeout and an irresponsible delay of game penalty on Joe Cinosky, Jay Carlson got the Bayhawks on the board starting a run of six goal to end the quarter. Carlson would finish the quarter with a hat trick while Matt Abbott, Brendan Mundorf and Anthony Kelly helped the home team build a 6-2 lead as the quarter ended.
The momentum continued early in the second as Brian Phipps continued his sterling play in goal. After registering six first period saves, the Maryland grad not only picked up his seventh of the night early in the second quarter but he launched a pass to midfield that his CJ Costabile in stride and the defenseman ripped the back of the net for his third score of the season.
After a long dry spell for both squads, Carlson found Mundorf on the doorstep. Mundorf’s second score of the game extended the Bayhawks run to eight and their lead to six. Randy Staats stopped the bleeding with back to back scores for the Blaze.
Kelly continued to struggle at the faceoff dot allowing the Blaze to creep back into the game. Miles Jones scored the ninth goal for Chesapeake but Mark Matthews and Ryan Tucker scored back to back for Atlanta to draw the Blaze within three. Once again, Jay Carlson had the answer notching his fourth goal of the first half just as the horn sounded and the home team led 10-6 at the break.
Jones and Matt Donovan got the Bayhawks on the board to open the second half but the home team couldn’t quite douse the Blaze as Jeremy Noble kept Atlanta within striking distance at 12-7. Nicky Galasso followed Noble’s score with two of his own – the first with 8:32 to play and singeing the back of the net with just over two and a half to play in the third bringing the Blaze within four.
Chesapeake ruled the final two minutes, however. Matt Danowski and Kevin Copper scored twice late in the quarter stretching their lead to 14-9 at the end of three.
Donovan opened the fourth quarter scoring with just over ten minutes to play but Ryan Tucker answered 30 seconds later after a Chesapeake faceoff violation. With the score standing at 15-10 and nine and a half minutes to play the Bayhawks were looking to keep the Blaze contained.
Atlanta goalie Adam Gittelman gave Chesapeake an assist when he leveled Donovan with a one minute unreleasable illegal cross check to the head. The Bayhawks took quick advantage when Cooper scored past backup goalie Dillon Ward on an assist from Jones.
Two minutes later along came Jones again completing his hat trick and extending the Chesapeake lead to 17-10. Still the Blaze weren’t quite done. Staats continued his hot night scoring a two pointer and lifting his point total to eight on the night. Mark Matthews scored to pull the Blaze within four again.
After Danowski scored the final goal of the night to put the Bayhawks ahead 18-13. A timeout allowed coach Brian Reese to get Niko Amato some rare playing time and the former Terrapin mad a save on the only shot he faced.
The Bayhawks close the season on the road with games at New York and Charlotte.
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