Familiar Faces Keller, Hansen, Power Zydeco (2/7)

BILOXI, MS - The Breakers and Zydeco were ready to renew the I-10 rivalry for the first time in a month and a half on Saturday night in Biloxi. Led by former Breakers Blake Keller (3rd Star 2G 1A) and Curtis Hansen (2nd Star 2G 1A), the Zydeco staved off a Breaker comeback and won by a final of 8-4, their 4th straight victory against their proximate foes. 

Period 1 certainly didn’t disappoint. Biloxi was able to fire a bunch of shots on Bailey Stephens early on, and thought they capitalized a couple minutes in with Fabian Lehner. Upon review, the goal would not count, and Biloxi went shorthanded. On the powerplay, former Breaker Blake Keller sniped a shot from the far circle over the shoulder of Anton Borodkin to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, AJ Schlepp was jumped by Matthew Bazarin in the corner, resulting in a slew of penalty minutes and Bazarin being ejected for the 2nd straight night. Exactly 1 minute later, Darius Davidson was given a major penalty for elbowing Heath Ford, and the Zydeco were set for a lengthy powerplay. After a solid kill, the Breakers were due to strike. At 15:55, Trey Fischer redirected a Brendan Spinale shot past Stephens to tie the game at 1. Now inside the final minute, Blake Keller did his best Fischer impression and redirected a Don Carter Jr. shot home to boost the Zydeco ahead at 2-1. The shots through 20 minutes were 16-14 Breakers. 

Period 2 was jam packed with all kinds of offense. After going to the powerplay early, Narek Aleksanyan fired a shot from the near post off a Bailey Morrissette feed home to make it 3-1. The Breakers had an answer at 6:22 with DonHeaven Veilleux locating a vacant puck in the slot and sliding it home to make it 3-2. Strange things were bound to happen with the worst penalty kill (BLX) going up against the worst powerplay (BRZ). At 8:48 back on the powerplay, Baton Rouge cashed in for the 3rd time a man up, with Jake Cox whistling a shot past Borodkin from the far circle to make it 4-2. Into the back half of the contest, at 14:02 Scott Shorrock potted his first goal since early December off a Cox centering pass to make it 5-2. This is typically the point where the Breakers tend to let the game get away, but not tonight. Inside the final 5 minutes, Carter Thornton snapped home his 6th of the season on a 2-on-1 with Kyle Heitzner to make it 5-3. And then once again at 18:15, Carter Thornton set up Trey Fischer in front for a goal after a strong forecheck to inch closer at 5-4. Baton Rouge took their narrow lead to the room despite outshooting Biloxi 19-8 in the middle chapter. Safe to say, period 3 would be a treat. 

Period 3 was all Zydeco. Baton Rouge immediately extinguished the Biloxi momentum with Bailey Morrissette potting his 5th of the season and 3rd of the weekend at 4:42 to make it 6-4. Less than 2 minutes later, another former Breaker in Curtis Hansen scored the 4th powerplay goal of the night for the Zydeco to restore the lead to 3. Hansen wouldn’t stop there, shoveling home a shot in tight in the back half of the period to cement the scoring at 8-4. The Zydeco outshot Biloxi 37-17 in the final 40 minutes and 51-33 in the game en route to their first weekend sweep since December 26-27, also against Biloxi. 

Baton Rouge improves to 8-20-6, and has built a 4 game buffer over the Breakers for the 6th spot in the Continental Division. They will head to Columbus for a pair with the River Dragons next Friday and Saturday, looking to stay hot. The Breakers lose their 9th straight and 30th of the season, plummeting to 6-29-1. They will continue their homestand next Thursday and Friday with the Topeka Scarecrows.