Hat Tricks score three, spoil banner raising night

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.- The 2019 Commissioner’s Cup champion Carolina Thunderbirds, a proud member of the Federal Prospect’s Hockey League, dropped their first game of the season to the Danbury Hat Tricks, 3-2 at the Annex on Friday.

“You win, you lose, but I’m more disappointed in the way that we lost,” said head coach Andre Niec.

Carolina opened the scoring when Daniel Martin notched his second of the season on a rebound from a Michael Bunn shot. Konner Hass would also assist on the play.

The Thunderbirds added a late first period goal when George Holt logged his first marker of the year. Holt slammed home a rebound from a Jo Osaka shot marking Carolina’s fifth goal of the season with a minute or less remaining in a period.

However, the powerplay stalled for Carolina, going only 1/5 on the night.

Jonny Ruiz scored midway through the second period to make it 2-1 and the Hat Tricks would tie the game on a one-timer from Matyas Kasek with 11-seconds to go in the middle frame.

Nicola Levesque would give Danbury the lead and the win with a goal 9:20 into the third period, beating Henry Dill on the short side.

Dillon Kelley logged his first win in his first start for the Hat Tricks, stopping 45 of 47 shots.

Carolina falls to 4-1-0-0 on the season while Danbury secures their first win in franchise history and improves to 1-2-0-2.

The two teams will play again tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. in Winston-Salem.

3 Stars

3) Henry Dill, Carolina

2) Stanislav Vlasov, Carolina

1) George Holt, Carolina