Rockers Couldn't Avoid Sweep, Drop Final Game To Columbus 4-3

Columbus, GA — Motor City couldn’t avoid a sweep as they lost a close contest to the Columbus RiverDragons 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Even though Motor City trailed most of the weekend series, the Rockers took the first lead of the weekend late in the first period.

With the help of an aggressive forecheck, the Rockers took over the puck in the offensive zone. TJ Sneath chipped the biscuit to Lane King who moved to the far side of the net. As he cleared the cage, he centered the puck to Declan Conway who shoved it in for a 1-0 lead with 6:07 to play in the first period. 

Columbus was able to tie the score, 1-1, on a centering pass from Justin MacDonald to Josh Pietrantonio. Petrantonio gathered the puck and fired it on net for his 24th of the season. 

The RiverDragons took the lead, 2-1, with a rebound goal from Pietrantonio who shoved the puck past the endline on a Alexander Jmaeff shot 1:30 into the second period. The Rockers tied the score eight minutes later TJ Sneath caught a centering pass from Danny Vanderwiel and shoveled the puck for his 18th of the season. 

The Rockers took the lead back in the third period off the stick of Sneath who received a pass from Lane King nearside-to-farside and snuck the puck into the far post for a 3-2 lead 13:37 left in the period. 

The RiverDragons then took off and scored the next two goals to regain the lead and earn the sweep.

The first goal on the power play off the stick of Petrantonio for his hat-trick, and the other was scored by Ryan Hunter for a 4-3 lead. 

The Rockers will head home to take on both Columbus and Binghamton on Friday and Saturday before getting a week off before the final games of the regular season against Port Huron.