The SGP Travel with a Three-Game Winning Streak: After the Ghost Pirates’ amazing weekend that put them on a three-game winning streak, they traveled to play three games at the Allen Americans’ barn in Texas. They played Wednesday, April 5th, Friday the 8th and Saturday the 9th.
Wednesday, April 5th: As he made a massive return off of injured reserve, Darian Skeoch made a ton of big hits he’d been saving up for a while. He also was back just in time to help raise the Ghost Pirates’ win streak to four. The Allen Americans scored the only goal scored in the 1st period, and they were down in shots on goal 14-13. Coming back from the first intermission, Spencer Naas put the SGP on the board 42 seconds into the middle period with a goal assisted by Brent Pederson and Alex Swetlikoff, and then Allen countered it with their second goal not too long afterward. Brent Pederson scored at 7:18 in the period, thanks to Tristan Thompson and Daniel D’Amato. Troy Lajeunesse added his second professional goal, breaking the 2-2 tie with Pederson’s assistance. Not too long after that, Logan Drevitch added the third consecutive goal from Savannah at 14:18 in the second on assists from D’Amato and Corcoran. Savannah allowed one last goal from Allen for the period, giving the Ghost Pirates the lead 4-3 with shots at 30-25.
With 12 seconds left on Allen’s first power play of the third period, they hit the back of the net, tying the game again. At 10:30 in, the Americans broke the tie, that being their third unanswered goal, leaving the score resting for a couple minutes at 5-4. Pederson got his fourth point of the period as he lit the lamp, tying the score 5-5. Corcoran scored, but the net had been moved somehow during the play, so the goal was under review and wasn’t determined to be a good goal, keeping the score tied. At the end of regulation, the score was stuck at 5-5, with Savannah leading in shots 39-34. Starting out in overtime for Savannah was the usual line: Swetlikoff, D’Amato, and Corcoran. The goal that ended the game was from Brent Pederson, his fourth of the game, assisted by Troy Lajeunesse and Noah Carroll. While the recorded stats only show three of his goals, Pederson got credited for the first goal of the game, making him the first player in the Savannah Ghost Pirates franchise history to score four goals in a single game.
Friday, April 7th: The Ghost Pirates returned to play the Americans for the second of the three times they were scheduled to play them after taking a day off. Before the puck dropped, a few roster changes were made to the SGP. Pat Guay got recalled to Henderson, Max Kaufman and Matt Brassard were placed on reserve, Nolan Valleau and Colin Doyle were added back off of reserve, Michael Bullion got placed on reserve, and Michael Herringer was placed on the active roster with a signed contract to man the goal.
In this game, the Americans took the lead roughly three minutes in and added two more unanswered goals before the period was up. Throughout the entire period, there were only two penalties,: a minor penalty for both sides. The Ghost Pirates’ Noah Carroll was penalized, and the four Savannah players managed to prevent Allen from scoring off of the man advantage. At 1:01 into the second period, Allen scored again to make it 3-0. They increased their lead over the Ghost Pirates at 13:44 by adding their fourth goal to the scoreboard. In the second period, only two players, Ross Armour, and Brandon Estes, were given two minutes a piece in the penalty box.
At 11:43 and 11:58, the Savannah Ghost Pirates got their only two goals of the game: the first from Brent Pederson off of Ross Armour and the second from Colin Doyle with the help of Nolan Valleau. The game ended with an Allen victory 6-2.
Saturday, April 8th: Despite suffering their second straight loss in the last of their three road games in Texas, the Ghost Pirates performed much better this time around against the Americans. Prior to this game, Noah Carroll was sent to join Pat Guay in Henderson, and Michael Herringer was released and eligible for claims. Matt Brassard and Max Kaufman were both brought off reserve and set to be on the ice for this game.
The Americans scored three goals in a row by the end of the first period, all while the Ghost Pirates outshot Allen 12-9. Spencer Naas was the only player who was sent to the sin bin for a minor penalty that period. There were only three American penalties in the second period, coupled with two SGP penalties: Nolan Valleau and Colin Doyle. One American, Ross Armour, and Troy Lajeunesse were penalized in the third period. The Americans led 4-1 when the second period finished. The only Savannah goal in the period was scored by Alex Swetlikoff at 16:56 and was assisted by Daniel D’Amato and Tristan Thompson. It was his 20th goal of the year making him the second player on the SGP to reach 20 goals this season, as he’s behind Brent Pederson, who now leads with 26. The final two goals for the SGP were scored by Connor Corcoran, with assists from Troy Lajeunesse and Ross Armour, and Brandon Estes off of Tristan Ashbrook and Tristan Thompson.
The game ended with a second consecutive loss for Savannah as the final score read 3-5, with the SGP managing to win in shots 43-29. While the end to this big road trip to Texas started better than it ended, the Ghost Pirates fought hard and played well throughout. With many roster changes between the three games, it was hard for them to adjust as quickly as they were forced to. Daniel D’Amato’s birthday was on Saturday, and despite them not being able to win, his teammates helped him get the point. Currently leading the Ghost Pirates in points is Pat Guay – 52, Alex Swetlikoff – 49, Brent Pederson – 45, Daniel D’Amato – 41, and Tristan Thompson – 40. Guay also leads the team with 36 assists, followed by Thompson, Swetlikoff, D’Amato, and Drevitch. Brent Pederson, Alex Swetlikoff, and Vincent Marleau are the top 3 leaders in goals scored, as Pat Guay and Daniel D’Amato follow behind them. The SGP have three games remaining in their inaugural season, with the finale being at home.
Savannah will next face South Carolina Wednesday at 7:05 P.M. EST
On Thursday, they’ll play in Greenville at 7:05 EST
Their grand finale will take place Saturday at 7:00 EST at home against Orlando.
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