Robbie Thomas
Motor City Rockers First Game!
This game was quite exciting. I think the teams just wanted to smack and beat the shit out of each other much opposed to scoring goals. As said in a previous post, FPHL was supposed to give Detroit a team in the upcoming 2021-22 season but that didn’t happen. And we wait a year and finally got one.
The first period saw quite a lot of opportunities for the Rockers. But the Prowlers got a goal on their rare opportunities at the 1st. 2nd period brought a lot of drama and fights. At this time, I think Gino Mini for the Prowlers had gone into the penalty box for his 2nd time (or 3rd? I lost count.) Also, at one point in the second period, while the ice was being cleared, Rockers goalie Babin went up to Prowlers goalie Rodrigue and shoved him. Port Huron would get the last laugh in the 2nd by scoring a goal.
Another oddity was the control of the scoreboard. When the Prowlers got the 2nd goal, the scoreboard said the Prowlers were up 3-0. The refs paused the game until the scoreboard controller got it right. And also in the 2nd period:
The announcer’s voice through the speakers sounded awful in the first two periods. They fixed it in the 3rd period for him to sound clear, much as opposed to Charlie Brown’s Parents.
The third period got on and at the six-minute mark, the Rockers scored two goals within 35 seconds of each other. Brad Reitter got the first, and defenseman Derek Makimaa got the second near the blue line. The scoreboard operator made another mistake and had the score at 5-2 for the Rockers. But switched it back to 2-2. More fights and more shoving until the Prowlers got the 3rd goal at the 16-minute mark. The Rockers couldn’t get anything going and the last minute had them chasing the puck in their own zone. Bummer.
One of the bummers was Zack Zulkanycz and John Juliano didn’t play. I could have sworn I saw Zulkanycz in a suit on the Rockers’ bench. I thought I also saw Mr. Juliano also in the bench too from behind, but I wasn’t so sure. Wonder why those two didn’t play. I do like Tim Perks quite a lot, he plays with a lot of intensity. I did not notice him on the ice at all in the 3rd period and can’t seem to find any info if he left the game early. Another interesting item to note, besides the players, the Prowlers had only one female staffer behind the bench, their trainer. Rockers had about six staffers behind the bench, including the head coach and assistant coach. The Prowlers do have a history of mainly relying on themselves, I like that actually.
Final attendance was 853. Hmm, good for me, I didn’t want to be around too many people. One of my regrets was not buying a ticket online. I was expecting this game experience to be similar to the Prowlers home game experience. Just buy the ticket right there when they open the doors and save on the ticket fee. I was in line for over 20 minutes being the 8th person in line. I suppose it took the staff a moment to get the machines working. Still, that bothered my ADHD, like they would give a shit anyway.
This particular part of the arena’s sole men’s bathroom had one toilet and two urinals. The line was quite long. I do like the bar in this arena. It’s a building within a building with big screens. Sadly, they didn’t have Jose Cuervo. I was expecting a few problems with the running of the game due to it being it’s first and people not willing to work these days. Shit, there were two teenagers running the concession stand and that line was long too, it’s the only one they have (besides the one in the main area).
Here’s the game: