Crunch time for the River Otters as they travel to take on Central Division opponents in 3 key contests
Compiled by: Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
Despite suffering two losses last week, the Missouri River Otters remain one of the hottest teams in the United Hockey League. The Otters are 9-2-1 in their last 12 contests and are only six points out of first place behind Fort Wayne and Rockford in the Western Division.
Frank Littlejohn’s three-point night led the Missouri River Otters to a 6-5 shootout victory against the Motor City Mechanics Sunday night at the Great Lakes Arena.
The Mechanics scored the game’s first goal, and it came on the power play. Blair Manning sent a puck at the net from the right point, and David Bonk re-directed it behind Kevin Reiter for his 11th goal of the season. The River Otters came right back with a goal of their own, as George Cantrall banged home the rebound of a Glenn Detulleo shot. Motor City regained the lead 17 seconds later when Jason Reimers blasted a slap-shot behind Reiter from the left point.
The second period featured five goals, three from Missouri and two from Motor City. Littlejohn, Jim Montgomery, and Lars Pettersen scored the goals for the River Otters, while Brad Smith and Reimers scored for the Mechanics.
Littlejohn scored his second goal of the game twelve minutes into the third period to give the River Otters the lead. Motor City came back strong, however, and Joe Burton’s power-play goal sent the game into the shootout tied at five.
In the shootout, Montgomery, Moore, and Riku Varjamo scored for the River Otters, while only Blair Manning and Burton scored for Motor City. Reiter made 25 saves for the victory while Cory Campbell made 24 saves in defeat.
Despite tying the game with a late two-goal rally, the Missouri River Otters lost 5-4 in regulation to the Muskegon Fury Saturday night at the L.C. Walker Arena.
The Fury scored the game’s first goal, and it resulted from a River Otters turnover. Rustyn Dolyny intercepted a pass and was robbed by Kevin Reiter on a shot, but Jon Insana slid the rebound between Reiter’s pads to give his squad the lead. The River Otters tied it up with four minutes remaining in the opening period. Frank Littlejohn found a puck to the left of the Fury net and rifled a wrist-shot that beat Sylvain Daigle over his right shoulder.
Despite outshooting the Fury 12-10 in the second period, the River Otters gave up the period’s only two goals. Todd Nelson scored the first on a quick wrap-around, while Todd Robinson fired home the second on an accurate one-timer. Fury defenseman Jon Insana was given a game misconduct in the second period for tripping referee Mike Mondalek with his stick.
Missouri scored first in the final period when Jim Montgomery banged home the rebound of a Mat Snesrud shot in front of the net. 23 seconds later Scott Hollis made it a 4-2 Fury lead on a two-on-one with Nelson. It stayed that way until late in the period, when Lars Pettersen perfectly deflected a Mike Dombkiewicz shot behind Daigle. Less than a minute later, Dombkiewicz beat a screened Daigle to tie the game at four. Unfortunately for the River Otters, they gave up a breakaway with less than a minute remaining in the game to Robinson. The Fury center made no mistake, beating Reiter with a top-shelf wrister. Daigle made 32 saves in the victory, while Reiter 25 saves in defeat.
The Otters play in Flint Friday evening, Detroit Saturday evening and Port Huron Sunday afternoon before returning home to the Family Arena on Sunday, March 13.
United Hockey League
Western Division
W L SL PTS
Fort Wayne 38 18 4 80
Rockford 36 22 6 79
River Otters 34 22 6 74
Quad City 25 24 9 59
Kansas City 22 35 3 47
Note: Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a shootout loss. Shootout losses are only denoted in the SL column, not the loss column.
