The Hampton Roads Whalers Elite team, in a dominant performance, beat the Atlanta Mad Hatters 7-1 on Saturday afternoon. Their win comes off a big game from Virginia native, Landon Cordova, who tallied his first three goals of the year, all of which came on the same powerplay in the second period. Griffin Erickson recorded the game-tying and game-winning goals, while Taryk Filipuzzi notched two of his own and assisted in closing out the game. Though the goal scoring came from those three, Whalers defenseman, Zachary Alberico, was stellar as he tallied four assists in the contest.
Janic Kennedy picked up the win for the Whalers, stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced. On the other side, Ryan Tolbert picks up the loss as he stopped 35 of the 42 shots he saw come. his way.
In a first-ever seen more me, the Whalers powerplay was immaculate, scoring five times on four opportunities. Atlanta’s only goal came on the powerplay as they were 1-for-3.
First Period
Early in the first, things got chippy between the two teams, despite having not played each other this season. At 4:45, the Whalers’ Erickson and Mad Hatters’ Camden Long both went off for roughing, bringing play to 4-on-4. 45 seconds later, the Whalers’ Raymond Johnson went to the box as he was assessed a minor for slashing and a minor for roughing, giving the Mad Hatters a four-minute powerplay. Just 24 seconds into the powerplay, the Mad Hatters struck as a soft roller off a slap shot by Onril Dalgity went by Kennedy and into the back of the net. William Grogan and Joey Bledsoe picked up the assists on the goal.
At 12:36, More carnage would happen after incidental contact with the Atlanta goalkeeper would cause a scrum. Out of the scrum, Whalers’ Cordova was called for goaltender interference and Atlanta’s Nikalas Freeman was called for cross-checking, again bringing the game to 4-on-4 play.
At 13:32 of the first period, the Whalers had a huge opportunity as Andrew Hale of the Mad Hatters received a two-minute minor for interference as well as a five-minute major and a disqualification for kicking a Whalers player, giving them a seven-minute powerplay to end the period with carryover time into the second.
With 1:40 to go in the first period, the Whalers were on the board as Erickson put a laser of a shot into the back of the net off a beautiful feed from Logan Crowder. Alberico was credited with the secondary assist. The period came to an end with the Whalers and Mad Hatters knotted at one a piece. The Whalers took 3:41 of powerplay time into the second period. The Whalers outshot Atlanta 9-7 in the period. Both teams were 1 for 2 on the powerplay through one period of play.
Second Period
With 1:32 of powerplay time left over, the Whalers capitalized again to take a 2-1 lead as Erickson collected his second goal of the game. A shot on net from the right-wing side by Alberico was blocked by an Atlanta player, and found its way to the left-wing wall where Erickson was waiting. He riffled a shot that would be deflected by an Atlanta player, and right by the glove hand of Tolbert.
4:23 into the second period, the Mad Hatters continued to shoot themselves in the foot as a second player would be ejected as Justin Kudrle would be given a major and game misconduct for hitting from behind. Just 42 seconds in, Cordova extended the Whalers lead to two with an easy tap-in goal for his first of the season to make it 3-1. A shot by Dylan Sedlak would rebound off the pad of Tolbert and find Cordova on the backdoor. Continuing to buzz all around the net, Cordova notched his second powerplay goal of the period at 7:23 as yet another rebound found him in the middle of the ice, and riffled it past Tolbert to give the Whalers a 4-1 lead. Alberico and Filipuzzi tallied the assists.
9:01 into the second period, Cordova completed the hat trick with his third powerplay goal of the period to make it 5-1. A soft, but effective low shot beat Tolbert five hole. Alberico picked up hi fourth assist of the game on the goal.
With 3:29 to go, the Whalers added on a sixth goal as Filipuzzi tapped in a loose puck that somehow got through Tolbert to make it 6-1. After the goal went in, the Mad Hatters lost all control of themselves, more than they already had to begin with. Marek Klos would be called for a five-minute major and game misconduct for spearing Filipuzzi after the play, giving the Whalers their third five-minute powerplay of the game.
The period ended with the Whalers up 6-1 heading into the third period. On just two powerplay opportunities in the period, the Whalers went an incredible 3-for-2 due to both being major penalties. Hampton Roads completely dominated, outshooting Atlanta 23-3 for the period.
Third Period
Heading into the third period, the Whalers still had leftover time on the powerplay. However, they could not scratch open the wound anymore, and Atlanta was able to kill of the rest of the powerplay.
Adding insult to injury, Filipuzzi notched his second goal on the game at 5:12 of the third period. A pass by Devin Dullum that was intended for Blake Marvici took a deflection off an Atlanta defender and laid out in the middle of the ice. Filipuzzi, following the play up, riffled a slapshot over the left shoulder of Tolbert to give the Whalers a 7-1 lead.
The game finished with the Whalers on top by a final score of 7-1. Things were calmer as the Whalers outshot the Mad Hatters by a 9-4 total. Atlanta went 0 for 1 on the only powerplay of the period.
