Robbie Thomas
Seeing The Port Huron Prowlers II
Blogger’s Note: You can watch the said game on YouTube.
This time around, the Prowlers went against the Carolina Thunderbirds and they were able to snap their losing streak. At the time of this post, the Prowlers are close to the cellar of the FPHL. Hopefully, down the road they can get it together and get on top. What’s a bummer is that my favorite player Zachary Zulkanycz is no longer on the team. Also, the former player/coach Joe Pace Jr. wasn’t in this game, or at least I didn’t see him. An interesting item in this game was the Prowlers wore the ugly Christmas sweater jerseys.
Prior to showing up to the game, I found out a place I’ve been to a couple of times before called Tio Gordo’s Cocina is (or was) now Martina’s Grill. I later would find this article explaining what happened. Bummer, I liked Tio Gordo’s. Another restaurant falling victim to Covid-19. I went to Lynch’s Irish Tavern instead. It seemed to be the only place that was open.
McMorran Arena was a little understaffed and one of the ticket machines wasn’t working (according to a security guard). There was a line for tickets but it went by quickly. I was able to buy a beer and drink it while waiting in line. Even with Covid-19 running around, I saw very few people with masks on, staffers included. Not saying that’s wrong, you do what you do. The game started at 3:05 but before then, they gave homage to a Port Huron Flags player turned NHL coach and scout Bob McCannon who passed away a few days prior to the game. The Port Huron Flags (Port Huron Wings for a few years in between) were part of the IHL in 1962-81. I miss the Detroit Vipers and the IHL.
The Prowlers got the first goal. I didn’t see it myself, I was on the way back up buying a mocha coffee. The line was long due to staffing issues (the game announcer addressed that on the 3rd period). While I was in line, I was talking to a Romeo resident. That reminded me of a French friend I knew who liked my Techno music back in the 2000s, then known as Shite (now known as Super Human Intelligence Towards Exile). Last time I saw him was in Rochester in 2018 on the same day France won the world cup. He was drunk out of his ass wearing a France Football Jersey celebrating his home country’s victory.
The second goal of the game was scored by defenseman Nick Manzo. According to his bio, Manzo is from Macomb Township, I was a resident of that area. Another guy near by me is Dante Suffredini who’s from Shelby Township, he would later get an assist. Prowlers lead 2-0 at the end of the 1st. Within a minute of the 2nd, the Thunderbirds scored. The Prowlers later scored at the 9-minute mark making 3-1. Perhaps I’m wrong about this but I saw two Prowlers players wearing the number 18 on their jersey. One of them usually wears 16 and that is Isaiah Crawford. But I could of sworn he was wearing 18 as well. Someone made a mistake if I’m right.
The third period got interesting and the last six minutes took a while to finish. Beginning in the third period though, the Prowlers scored a goal that was later disallowed. Not sure why.
The final six minutes presented Port Huron with some scoring opportunities. However, the opposing teams net was knocked over twice, stopping the play. Alex Johnson of the Prowlers (also the team’s Assistant Coach) began to look over to the crowd on the northwest side of the rink and waved up his arm to wild the crowd up. It worked, you could hear the boos. This happened again where the goalie knocked it over (as it appears). The opposing goalie Paulin (previously played for the Prowlers in 2019-20) needed a trainer. He got the Prowlers trainer to take a look and he continued on with the game.
The Thunderbirds pulled their goalie with less than three minutes left but that didn’t work as Dalton Jay got an empty netter. They did score at the 22-second mark with the team scoring leader John Buttitta getting the goal. Prowlers would win the game 4-2. One of the things I’ve noticed was Austin Fetterly was playing defense in this game. I later ran into this video where the interviewer referred to him as forward/defense. Quite like a few players in both of these teams, they have to wear two or three hats. As said, Alex Johnson is also the Assistant Coach. The game’s first star Matt Graham is the head coach, taking that helm from Joe Pace Jr. Carolina has a player Joe Cangelosi who also doubles as Corporate Operations. Also, a former Prowlers goalie Kelly Curl is now the GM of the Thunderbirds.
Fetterly scored his first hat trick on the game I attended in 2020 before Covid-19 came to town.
I took a scenic route back home. Instead of the fastest way home, I took M-29. It was one of the best drives I’ve had. There was barely anybody going southbound on M-29. I had that side of the road to myself for the most part. And mainly, people who were ahead of me were driving faster than I was and it didn’t take them a long moment to make a turn. The only problem I encountered is when I got to New Baltimore, some damn idiot stopped at a green light. I want some of the drugs he’s doing. God damn…
Hopefully the Prowlers will get it together and get back on top. At least they aren’t doing as bad as the Delaware Thunder. They are 0-14 as of this posting, a repeat of the Battle Creek Rumble Beez perhaps? Hopefully next year, the Motor City Rockers will commit to the 2022-23 season.