The Rock Lobsters, Athens’ new pro hockey team, sent about 2,000 fans out to happily celebrate New Year’s Eve after a shootout win over the visiting Mississippi Sea Wolves at Akins Ford Arena.
After 60 minutes, Sea Wolves goaltender Edward Coffey stopped 53 of 55 shots, while Josh Rosenzweig, his Lobster counterpart, stopped 20 of 22. It all came down to an overtime shootout. Garrett Milan and Carter Shinkaruk scored for the home team, while Rosenzweig was perfect in net for the shootout, securing a 3-2 win.
“I just saw a hole, and it went through; so great to get the win there,” Milan said of his overtime goal.
He was named the second star of the game after also opening up scoring for the game halfway through the first period with assists going to Matthew Garcia and Michael Grecco.
“Their goalie stood on his head,” Milan added of Coffey’s effort. “But ours bailed us out a few times, too. He came through when we needed him.”
Kayson Gallant scored for the Rock Lobsters at 5:26 after Mississippi tied things up 2:48 into the second period with assists from Joseph Colatarci and Milan. The Sea Wolves reached a tie again, though, at 14:32 of the second period, leaving a scoreless third that led to overtime.
Rock Lobsters head coach Steve Martinson was pleased to end the year with a win but said he wished it had come within regulation time.
“One of the crazy things about our league is they have three points for winning in regulation but only two for overtime,” he pointed out. “It’s something we shouldn’t have, but we do, so we’ve got to make up a little ground with that. But hey, we got the win, so that’s number one.”
Martinson added he also wants his team to get better at winning faceoffs. He said he felt losing too many faceoffs contributed to the ultimate result.
“They got puck possession in their end a lot because they were winning the faceoffs and then spending a lot of time with it behind their own net. That makes it hard,” Martinson said. “But we’ve got guys that have been playing the wing that are now playing center. One of the things you need when you put a new team together is good centers, but you might not always get all the pieces that you need, so you just get the best players that you can.”