Birthday Boy Hussey Drops Biloxi (3/14)

WYTHEVILLE, VA - After getting going a little tardy last night, Biloxi was excited to wipe the sheet clean and compete on Saturday night in Wytheville. In a physical battle, 36 year old birthday boy Greg Hussey stopped 38/39 and recorded a fight as Blue Ridge completed a weekend sweep of Biloxi by a final of 7-2. 

The Breakers got out to an optimal start to begin period 1, getting early pressure on Bobcats netminder Greg Hussey, celebrating his 36th birthday. At 4:19, Chiwetin Blacksmith opened the scoring at 1-0 with a wrister under the arm of Hussey after forcing a turnover at the blue line. Needing an answer, Blue Ridge began to tilt the ice and generate a large volume of shots on Breakers goaltender Rahul Sharma. At 7:32, a heavy shot from Robin Eriksson went well wide. However, a fortuitous bounce off the end boards ricocheted off the back of the pad of Sharma and in to tie the contest at 1. After the equalizer, Eriksson dropped the gloves on the ensuing draw with Brendan Spinale for a heavyweight tilt, with Spinale coming out on top after an equal exchange of punches. Across the midway point, at 13:06 Michael Mercurio made a slick backhand feed to the slot that was directed into the twine by Demid Podrezov to give the Bobcats a 2-1 advantage. Blue Ridge outshot Biloxi 22-18 in the opening frame. 

The second period was a sloppy one for both sides, with 6 total minor penalties and no one cashing in on the powerplay. The next bit of offense would come at 13:33 with Nick Stuckless banging home a mark from the bumper position to extend the ‘Cats lead to 2. 14 seconds later, an immediate rush into the zone by Michael Mercurio paved the way for a chaotic feed to the middle that was shoveled home by Demid Podrezov for his 2nd of the night to make it 4-1. On the kill for 8 total minutes in the frame, Biloxi could only muster 7 shots as they headed to the room trailing by 3 and being outshot 37-25. 

The third period was entertaining to say the least. It had a slow start until the 6:53 mark, when Justin Daly beat Rahul Sharma over the shoulder with a shot to make it 5-1. Things remained rather docile until 14:56 when Carson Andreoli finished a 2-on-1 break to extend the lead to 5. Moments later after a post-whistle cross check by Danny Martin, Trey Fischer dropped the gloves with the Bobcat captain that brought the tension in the arena to a boil. Things got very chippy after that, with both teams taking advantage of the leeway after the whistle. After Hussey forced a stoppage, and threw a shot at Al Rotiroti, Rahul Sharma summoned him to center for a goalie fight. While Hussey landed more punches, Sharma came out on top. The energy boost led to one last tuck for Chiwetin Blacksmith, his 5th in 5 games as a Breaker to make it 6-2. Biloxi went to one last powerplay moments later, but Damon Furuseth spoiled all the fun with the 3rd shorthanded goal of the weekend to restore the ‘Cats lead to 5 again. The scoring stopped at 7-2 Blue Ridge, outshooting Biloxi 48-43 in full time. 

The Bobcats improve to 25-20-3 as the Breakers fall to 7-38-1. Blue Ridge will remain home to host the Baton Rouge Zydeco for a pair next weekend as Biloxi finishes their 5 game road trip with a 3 games in 3 days stretch with the Twin City Thunderbirds.