Rockers Blank Hat Tricks behind 52 Save Shutout from Gonzalez

When Rico Gonzalez is locked in, he is must see TV.

Rico Gonzalez and the Motor City Rockers cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Danbury Hat Tricks.

The night started out strong for Motor City, when Drew Welsch danced passed his defender and picked the corner to open the scoring 1-0.

Welsch delivered an encore performance on the powerplay just under 10 minutes later when he found himself all alone at the top of the right wing circle, and ripped a shot passed Danbury goalie Kyle Penton to extend the lead to 2-0 Rockers.

The score would stay stagnant for the rest of the first period.

The middle frame started with up and down action, but neither side could find a rhythm.

Both Gonzalez and Penton made big saves to keep the score at 2-0 after two periods.

With a renewed buzz inside Danbury Ice Arena, the puck dropped on the third.

However, Avery Smith would be the needle that popped the balloon for the Danbury crowd, when a clean feed from Jhuwon Davis, set Smith up to work by a defender and tickle the twine to make it 3-0.

T.J. Sneath and Cade Lambdin attacked the zone with a two-on-one that ended with Sneath's sixth goal of the year on a backhanded shot, bringing the Rockers edge to 4-0

Smith finished the game off with some theatrics, pulling off a between the legs shot that served as the cherry on top of the 5-0 shutout victory.

Gonzalez's shutout marked the first for Motor City since December 2024.

The Rockers and Hat Tricks battle again Saturday night at 7pm. Coverage begins at 6:30 on the Rockers Media Network