Barrow, Big Third Period Fuels Columbus (11/21)

Columbus, GA - The bar was pretty high following a back and forth barnburner last Saturday in the same building, but with these two teams squaring off in 3 of the next 4 games including this one, competitive hockey was a given. Led by Tyler Barrow, a 3 goal third period gave Columbus the boost they needed to hand Biloxi their third straight defeat.

In period 1, Biloxi had a slow start taking 2 minor penalties 2 seconds apart. The door for Columbus to jump ahead was wide open. Sure enough, in a matter of seconds off the ensuing faceoff Kyle Moore threw a puck on net off of a deflection right to him and Columbus struck first. Just after the Breakers killed the remaining penalty, they took another. Right off the faceoff once again, a Ryan Hunter shot from the point weaved its way through all the traffic in front to the back of the net to double the lead at 2-0. At the midway point, Carter Thornton drew a slash and on the delayed call Cole Crowder fired home a bullet past Roy to make it 2-1. Immediately you could feel the momentum needle sway in the direction of the Breakers. Columbus was held silent the rest of the frame, barely recording a single shot on goal in the back half. The Breakers had some steady pressure but couldn’t find those grade A looks they needed. They led in shots 9-7 through the opening 20 but trailed 2-1. 

The second period was a sloppy one. Columbus took 2 quick penalties to give the Breakers a pair of powerplays. Going in as the #1 unit in the FPHL, you would think they were bound to strike sooner or later. Instead they would bleed out the time and go on to take a couple bad penalties of their own, leading to a 5 on 3 Columbus man advantage. Albeit on their heels, the Breakers were able to slay the dangerous chance and get back to 5 on 5. As if scripted, then Columbus took another pair of back to back penalties that the Breakers couldn’t do much with. Their best chance was a pair of high quality looks with Blake Keller getting robbed all alone in the bumper position and Trey Fischer ringing one off the pipe. The score held at 2-1 through 40 minutes, with Columbus now leading in shots 21-15. 

The third period is when the offense began to pick back up. At 4:29 Tyler Barrow somehow muscled a puck under the pad of Rosenzweig to restore the Columbus lead to 2. Still with plenty of time to play, the Breakers threw the next blow. Curtis Hansen used his high IQ and patience with the puck teetering on the blue line to start a clean entry that led to a Darius Davidson net-crash goal. Trailing by just 1 with 10 minutes to play, there was plenty of life for the visitors. Into the final 7 minutes of regulation, Columbus capitalized on a long, tired Breakers shift; with Galvin firing a rocket from the slot to make it 4-2. 3 and a half minutes after that came the Brodie Thornton dagger on a rebound out front to make it 5-2 and cement the scoring. Although it may have seemed the Breakers were dominated on paper, they outshot the Dragons 17-12 in the final frame and had plenty of opportunities, just couldn’t get it done.

Biloxi loses their 3rd straight, falling to 3-6-1. Columbus improves to 7-4-0 and will get ready to host the Breakers tomorrow night once again at 6:05 CST.