Nationals drop fifth straight FHL contest
CORNWALL – The Danbury Titans showed up late to the party on Sunday afternoon but still skated to a 6-4 victory over the Cornwall Nationals in front of 431 fans at the Civic Complex.
It was the expansion Nationals’ fifth straight Federal Hockey League defeat.
Dalton Jay opened the scoring for the Titans just 50 seconds into the contest when he beat Paul Bourbeau Jr. with a shot just under the crossbar. Michael Dolman, with a nifty tip, added a powerplay marker at 15:26 of the opening frame.
Maxime Guyon buried a shot from the slot past Nick Niedert at 8:52 of the second period to give the Nationals some life. Moments later, Darick Ste Marie tipped in a Mitchell Porowski shot for a powerplay goal at 11:26 of the second to level the score.
Danbury regained the lead with three minutes to play in the second, when a shot banked off Dolman and in for a powerplay goal. Nine seconds later, PJ Hefferin squeezed a shot past Bourbeau Jr. give the Titans a 4-2 lead.
Cornwall didn’t quit however, as Guyon fired a perfectly placed wrist shot past Niedert with 1:49 to play in the second. But, Matt Graham scored a back-breaker with 44.6 seconds to play in the middle frame, a weak shot that beat Bourbeau Jr. to restore the two-goal lead.
Fireworks ensued at the beginning of the third period as Joe Cannan and Chris Cloutier were ejected from the game. The Nationals killed off a 5-on-3 Danbury powerplay but Jay would eventually add his second of the contest at 8:31 of the third to give Danbury a 6-3 lead.
Danick Poirier of the Nationals rounded out the scoring at 10:20 of the third.
Cornwall outshot Danbury 43-31. Dolman (first), Guyon (second) and Jay were the announced stars.
Prior to the game, the Nationals presented Maison Baldwin House with a cheque for $460, which was raised a few weeks ago during the Grey Cup game.
NEXT WEEKEND: The Nationals are back in action with three games next weekend, all against the rival Berlin River Drivers. On Friday, March 3, Cornwall travels to Berlin (8 p.m.). On Saturday, March 4, Berlin visits Cornwall. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. The Nationals and River Drivers go at it once again on Sunday, March 5 in Berlin at 2 p.m.
VLASOV DEALT: The Nationals dealt defenceman Stanislav Vlasov to Berlin on Friday in exchange for forward Porowski. Vlasov played in 11 games for Cornwall after being acquired from Watertown. The 6-foot-4 Porowski appeared in two games earlier this season for the Nationals, picking up a pair of assists.
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