Greenville, SC—The Swamp Rabbits returned home on Wednesday, December 20, to face against the Atlanta Gladiators. Greenville previously concluded a three consecutive game road trip in three different cities, closing off in Savannah with a 6-1 loss. Atlanta, prior to playing against Greenville, was on a nine-game losing streak. After the game on Wednesday, they would play the Orlando Solar Bears and Savannah Ghost Pirates back-to-back at home – on Friday and Saturday.
Glads VS. Rabbits—Wednesday, December 20
1st Period
The first twenty minutes started great for the Rabbits, as they scored just 26 seconds into the period from a goal by Tanner Eberle. The momentum would carry on for the Rabbits as they continued to push the Gladiators. Then, around the five-minute mark, it was Atlanta’s turn as they posted six shots on Ryan Bednard in the first ten minutes. Near the ten-minute mark, Greenville would throw a couple of close chance shots on Gustavs Grigals. However, Atlantas defense was on point for the remainder of the Period, denying all chances from the Rabbits’. The tide shifted to Atlanta, as hard effort and offensive pressure in Greenvilles zone would swing in several close game-tying chances. Consequently, the last six minutes of play in the first was all Gladiators, as they posted two shots on Bednard before eventually scoring. Intense pressure on Bednard and the Rabbits’ defensive unit would cost them a goal, as Griffin Luce would feed a slick pass to Jackson Pierson for him to tie things up for his team. After twenty minutes of play, the game would be tied at one.
2nd Period
Heading into the second Period, both teams would trade off offensive pressure for several minutes. But then, at 3:30, the Rabbits’ would pressure hard on Grigals and the Gladiators defense. Shots from Greenville wouldn’t make their way on Grigals until 3:41 into the middle frame, however, as Nick Prkusic would feed a pass to Jack Smith for him to shoot a one-timer past Grigals and usher in a much-needed tie.
After Smith’s goal, the momentum would lean to the Rabbits, but Atlanta would nevertheless sneak in a few shots on Bednard before 5:18. At 5:18, Jacob Graves would instigate a fight with Swamp Rabbit Anthony Beauchamp. After the fight, the momentum passed on to Atlanta, as for the next several minutes, they would put in hard work to score. And so they did… A clean face-off win from Atlanta at 9:33 would allow Carson Gicewicz to pass to Navrin Mutter for him to wrist the puck past Bednard; Bednard did not expect that quick shot release to happen, and so it was now tied at two then Atlanta would strike again shortly after. Micah Miller would intercept the puck from a poor turnover by a Swamp Rabbit in Greenvilles zone and waste no time to shoot and score. After the goal, Greenville would attempt to tie things up but fail. Atlanta had a spark of motivation and tenacity to retain their one-goal lead, as Grigals would be on par with his goalkeeping. And so, the period would conclude with Atlanta leading 3-2.
3rd Period
Into the final minute countdown, the Rabbits, per se, were anxious to tie things up and increase their lead. They would post six shots on Grigals until the twelve-minute mark, with Atlanta only posting two. Afterwards, with eight minutes left of play, Greenville had a spark to tie things up, as the extreme effort would eventually pay off. At 13:03, Ethan Somoza would net the tying goal, and that would thus prevail the Rabbits even more.
After Somoza’s goal, Greenville posted three shots on Grigals as they continued to push. But Atlanta would yet again put up a fight and deny all those chances. Atlanta would later take matters into their own hands, effectively breaking the tie as they high Pressured Greenville. At 16:42, Mitch Walinski netted a goal from a pass by Evan Dougherty.
As a result, the tie-breaking goal would kill the Swamp Rabbits’ chances of scoring. Despite pulling Bednard at 18:29 for the extra attacker, the Swamp Rabbits would get flushed out by Atlanta. Several seconds into the o-zone pressure, a Swamp Rabbits player got tripped up by Cody Sylvester and gave away the puck for Sylvester to get an empty netter insurance goal at 18:53. The Rabbits’ were now trailing by two goals. Still, Coach Andrew Lord called a time-out with thirteen seconds left to draw out a play for his team. However, Bobby Russell would be the only one to shoot on Grigals, and thus concluding the game. Atlanta, after losing nine games in a row, jumped back into the action and took a much-needed win.
After the game, I got the chance to ask Tanner Eberle of the Swamp Rabbits what he thought of last night’s performance and what he thinks will change before playing against the Solar Bears on Friday.
His response: “I thought our offense was okay tonight. We’ve been a little stagnant lately, but tonight we had a lot of ozone possession, got a lot of pucks in, and greasy goals. Offensively, I thought we were better tonight. We just need to go; we need to get to the net more and ensure you always have a guy in front, and I think good things will happen. But It was going good with offensive production tonight – I mean, usually, three goals are enough to get a win, but unfortunately not tonight.”
I asked Eberle what was going on the bench during the last two minutes of the third Period.
“It was just trying to believe. That was a tough goal to give up with a couple of minutes left, and just trying to stay up on the bench; we still had time to really get one – we were just trying to stay positive and make sure everyone knew what they were doing in the last two minutes, and basically try to execute. The biggest thing was to make sure we don’t get down on ourselves; two minutes is a long time to score, so that was kind of it.”
Furthermore, I caught up with defenseman Joe Leahy to hear his thoughts on last night’s defensive performance.
“Everyone just needs to buy in a little more and compete harder in the D-zone against all five guys. You know, boxing out our goaltender against clean shots – just get back to what we were doing early on in the season.”
Reflecting back to last week’s three-game road trip and last night’s game against Atlanta, I asked Leahy what he thinks needs to change going forward after those four games.
“I think we were okay on the road – getting on the road is always hard, especially three to three. We gotta get back to what made us successful from the start of the year and just compete for a full 60, and we should be good.”
I asked Leahy if poor puck management was a problem to the team in the last four games played.
His response: “I wouldn’t say it was poor puck management; I think it just was overall team structure and kind of working together as five. I think it’s the biggest thing, really. We know how good we are, and that’s it.”
My final question was, what was the message Coach Lord sent as he took a time-out with 13 seconds left before the buzzer.
“Just drawing up a play for a 6 on 5 situation and just kind of execute a play – telling us not to give up and just play, we were still in it.”
Bears VS Bits—Friday, December 22: Rabbits’ dreams of expanding to 20 wins gets stomped by familiar foes
1st Period
Greenville would score first from a goal by Jake Smith at 3:18. Before the goal. However, there was a humorous moment that transpired in which the Swamp Rabbits own goal horn prematurely went off after the puck hit the crossbar from inside the net; after a minute review from referee JR Strager, the call on the ice stood: no goal. But, no goal regardless; the Rabbits still scored two seconds after winning the face-off, hence the review. The 1-0 lead would be short-lived, though, as the Solar Bears at 5:00 would forecheck heavily, gain puck possession, and push towards the Greenville zone. For 59 seconds, they would pressure Greenvilles’ defensive unit and Bednard, firing three shots on the netminder before eventually scoring at 5:59 from a goal by Tanner Dickenson; the assists to Dickenson’s goal would be credited to Jake Stevens and Jesse Jacques.
The momentum from Orlando’s tie goal would carry through for the remainder of the period. Despite gaining a power play at 11:06, the Rabbits’ would get run over by Orlando’s strong defense and not be able to post even a shot on Brandon Halverson. After the powerplay, Orlando had a full swing of offense as they posted three shots on Bednard, while the Rabbits’ posted only two on Halverson. As Francis laid a shot on Halverson, the Solar Bears backchecked and gained possession of the puck from Greenville in the neutral zone, giving them a two-on-one rush down Greenvilles zone. Ethan Cap and Ryan Bednard were the two shields holding back from Orlandos’ Aaron Luchuk and Ryan Cox. Cox would make a short, uncontested pass to Luchuk ‐ for him to shoot a wrister at an open door net – to make the score 2-1 Orlando.
2nd Period
The second Period was an odd one. Greenville had many chances to tie things up, but Orlando’s defense was once again furious. In the first minute, the Swamp Rabbits posted only two shots on Halverson before giving up the offensive momentum to Orlando. Consequently for the next seven minutes, Orlando would be the only ones actually posting Shots on the opposing netminder, as they put up nine shots on Bednard. Meanwhile, Greenvilles defense would be instrumental in retaining the one-goal deficit. Even with only having five defensemen on the active lineup, Greenville would still execute finely. At 8:23, it was the Rabbits’ turn to attempt to tie things up; they posted six shots until 11:56. But, even with the pressure on Orlando, there were many moments where Greenville could have scored; too many weak passes or players not shooting hard on net, or not shooting at all despite having chances to do so. And because the score remained the same, the Solar Bears had a spark of motivation to give themselves an insurance goal, as at 14:37, Aaron Luchuk would score. After the insurance goal, Greenville would trail by two goals and only post a single shot before the buzzer.
3rd Period
The final twenty minutes of play was great… for Orlando. An ambition to score two goals would get shadowed by the Solar Bears, as poor defense and goaltending would cost the Rabbits. Commencing the Period, the Rabbit’s would start out in Orlando’s zone to shoot the first shot. Then, both teams’ would respectively rotate between their zones. But at 4:47, Mark Louis would get called for hooking, and the Solar Bears would go on the power play. Seventeen seconds into the Bears’ power play, they would score to enhance their lead to three goals from a goal by Mitchell Hoelscher. The three-goal lead would only amplify afterwards, as Orlando would score again. A minute after the previous goal – at 6:09 – Alex Frye would score a toe drag release on a two-on-two rush.
After letting in five goals, Ryan Bednard’s night would come to an end as Luke Richardson, hence took his place for the rest of the game. Perhaps Bednard being pulled sent a message to the team as they would spend the next six minutes in mainly Orlando’s zone, posting seven shots on Halverson. However, Halverson would deny those shots with his defensive units assisting him on the backchecks. But then, at 14:45, Chris Harpur would stick the puck off the glass to make a miscalculated, desperate attempt to dump the puck away from his zone, taking a delay of game penalty as a result. And so, Greenville would get a shot to change things up on their struggling power play execution. Perhaps something changed with their altered power play unit because they would score just seventeen seconds into it. Tanner Eberle, on the right wing end, would feed a nifty pass to Jake Smith to one-time on Halverson and thereby make the puck loose in the crease; Eberle, without hesitation, motored Down to the crease to slip the puck past Halverson.
Now trailing by three goals, there was light at the end of the tunnel for the Swamp Rabbits. So, still minutes left to make a difference, coach Andrew Lord pulled Luke Richardson for the extra attacker at 16:01. For 27 seconds, the Rabbits would try to set something up, making key passes and attempting to shoot on Halverson. However, at 16:58, Aaron Luchuk had a confident opportunity to poke away Ryan Francis’ puck at the blue line to thus shoot at the empty net from center ice and give himself a hat-trick. Before the Rabbits’ could even breathe after the 6-2 Orlando goal, the Solar Bears would score again. At 17:42, Alexandre Fortin would fire a snapshot from the left wing end, creating a rebound chance for Tanner Schachle to tip it past Richardson. And that would do it for the Rabbits; Orlando shot them down time after time. The fatigue of having only five D-men in the lineup showed after forty minutes as the Rabbits’ offensive unit tried to score, but a several-goal trail did not make it easy. The defense overall has really struggled ever since Max Martin and Tyler Inamoto got called up to Ontario Reign, two of the best defencemen the team had at the start of the season.
Savannah VS. Greenville—Saturday, December 23: Rabbits’ Improve Before Holiday Break
It was now Greenville’s time to really shine and try to bring their win record to 20 as they would face the Savannah Ghost Pirates the following day. A change in the lineup: Bobby Russell got shaken up during the game against Orlando, so he would sit out with L.A. Grissom. However, what was probably a miracle for the Rabbits, Max Martin got loaned to Greenville from the Ontario Reign (AHL). But, learning from the game before, the Rabbits’ coaching staff assigned eleven forwards and six defensemen; the sixth d-man was none other than J.D Greenway – Rabbits’ big-body forward.
1st Period
The 1st Period was electric for the Rabbits; the fuel to win caused a fire from within. Both teams would respectively pressure the opponents’ zones, as GVL and SAV posted two shots on the netminders. The netminder for Swamp Rabbits was young goaltender Luke Richardson, and Kaden Fulcher was in for the Ghost Pirates. At 5:09, Savannah would take the game’s first penalty and advance the Rabbits’ to a dangerous power play. Yes, dangerous if you have Jake Smith on it. Smith, with his absolutely insane one-timing abilities, opens up scoring for the Rabbits’ at 5:52.
The momentum would carry on for the Swamp Rabbits, as Tanner Eberle would tip the puck past Fulcher and make it 2-0 with 9:40 left to go. After the Eberle goal, the Rabbits’ would mainly control the offensive momentum for the remainder of the first, while Savannah poked a few shots on Richardson.
2nd Period
The second Period would again start out electric for the Rabbits, as Brannon McManus would score at 4:24 from an assist by Carter Souch. After McManus’ goal, the tide would shift for Savannah, as for the next three minutes, they would be the only ones to post a shot on goal. And then it would continue at 9:27 as the Rabbits would draw a penalty. The penalty kill for Greenville was a tough call at first, but with Vincent Marleau departing from Savannah, the Ghost Pirates were left without their core forward to score. Despite mustering up six shots on Richardson, the Greenville goaltender would be outstanding in denying chances from the Ghost Pirates.
After Richardson put a stop to Savannah on the PK, the Rabbits would gain back some needed motivation in offense as Savannah was drying from a three-goal deficit. Quality pressure and fierce force on Savannah’s defensive unit would consequently reward the Rabbits’, as Colton Young would net the fourth goal of the game. The Rabbits now had a four-goal insurance card, and Savannah felt almost defeated. Greenville would hold the cusp of gaining a shutout win for Richardson until the five-second mark. Pat Guay would net a last-second goal for Savannah to cross their deficit to three.
3rd Period
At 2:09, the Rabbits’ would go on another PK. But never fear; they killed that off quite well, only allowing a single shot on Richardson by the Ghost Pirates. Afterwards, both teams would trade off offensive pressure before Greenville drew another penalty at 6:03. Savannah only posted two shots on Richardson during that power play. J.D Greenway, manning the defensive unit, performed very well for a substitute d-man. At 11:52, Greenville would once again head to the PK. In a desperate situation to score the Ghost Pirates, Savannah pulled Micheal McNiven for an extra man. This time, Greenvilles’ PK unit wasn’t successful, as Pat Guay would net his second of the night and give his team a two-goal deficit at 12:55. After Guay’s goal, the Rabbits’ would only post two shots on goal, while the Ghost Pirates posted none. Both teams had made offensive rushes, made swift passes but shot high and wide, or got backchecked by the opposing defense.
At 17:13, Savannah made another desperate decision to pull McNiven for the extra attacker; they would pressure hard on Richardson’s net, posting two shots in a minute. However, Greenville would backcheck successfully and gain puck possession, and then fire at the empty net but miss. There was no icing from the shot by a Swamp Rabbit, so they motored down to Savannahs zone to make another empty net play. Anthony Beauchamp would try to score on the empty net but get interfered with, and as a result, would get the goal. After the consequential goal, chaos would unfold as Greenville players would instigate a brawl with some Savannah players. And then, a few seconds after puck dropped in Greenvilles zone, another round of extracurricular activities would transpire as tension from Savannah fired out. With only a minute left in regulation, the Ghost Pirates trailed by three goals, and because of that, they couldn’t muster up anything. The insane load of penalties issued before the buzzer simply put both teams out of place.
The Rabbits’ closed off their three-game home stand with two losses; they displayed struggles weaknesses, but also improvements. Before the new year begins, the Rabbits will head on the road one last time to Florida to face the Everblades and then return home on New Year’s Eve at home against the Everblades.
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