S A T U R D A Y
Scott Pooley opened the scoring with 8:39 to play in the opening frame, capitalizing on a bounce off the boards and roofing the puck over Charles Williams giving the Growlers a 1-0 lead. Pooley followed that up just over two minutes later, netting his 29th of the season to double the lead to 2-0. Michael Garteig was solid between the pipes turning aside all 16 shots faced in the first period.
Brady Ferguson extended the lead to 3-0 only 1:23 into the second period, bringing his point streak to seven games.
Marcus Power continued the offensive rout at 4:20 of the second period, re-directing a Brady Ferguson shot in the back of the net for a 4-0 lead, and subsequently ending Williams’ night as he was replaced by Cole Kehler after allowing four goals on 12 shots.
The Monarchs showed no quit, as Jack Nevins banged a rebound past Michael Garteig to break his shutout bid and cut the Growlers lead to 4-1 48 seconds into the third period, but Josh Kestner re-stored the four-goal lead at 3:14 on a shot that Kehler got a piece of but the puck trickled behind him for a 5-1 Newfoundland lead.
Sam Kurker continued the back-and-forth third period at 7:49, capitalizing on the powerplay for the second time of the period cutting the lead to 5-2, but that’s as close as Manchester would come as the Growlers held on for a 5-2 final.
Michael Garteig made 42 saves in the win.
F R I D A Y
The Newfoundland Growlers improved their record to 6-0 against the Manchester Monarchs this season with a 4-2 win Friday night at Mile One Centre to clinch the North Division Title for the 2018-19 season.
Marcus Power opened the scoring 6:54 into the first period rifling a wrist shot over the blocker of Charles Williams giving the Growlers a 1-0 lead.
The 1-0 score held up until 9:28 of the second period when Brady Ferguson cleaned up a scrum in front of the Monarchs net and banged the puck past Williams for a 2-0 Growlers lead. Sean Kurker brought the Monarchs to within one just three minutes later after an unfortunate bounce off James Melindy’s skate made it to the back of the net, and David Kolomatis followed that up 42 seconds later firing one up over Eamon McAdam’s shoulder tying the game at 2-2.
Zach O’Brien broke the deadlock at 10:41 of the third period roofing a big rebound giving the home team a 3-2 lead.
The Monarchs pulled Williams with 1:34 remaining in the game for an extra attacker, but with 1:21 remaining Scott Pooley hit the empty net for his 27th of the season sealing the deal for a 4-2 win.
