For the second straight weekend, the Potomac Patriots and Hampton Roads Whalers met in United States Premier Hockey League action at the Elite and Premier levels. This time, the Whalers went to Woodbridge, VA, for the Patriots’ home opener.
Elite Game One
After a weekend sweep that ended with a 3-0 shutout win to kick off their 2024-25 USPHL campaign just a week ago, the Whalers’ Elite team sought to carry that momentum into another big weekend to begin the season. Early in the first period, the Patriots struck first as Joseph Kenneally collected his first goal of the season, with the assists going to Jakob Kolega and Braylen Cox, who would have an outstanding weekend for the Patriots. Down 1-0 heading into the middle frame, the Whalers struck early to knot the game up as it took Taryk Filipuzzi 33 seconds to collect his first goal of the season. Preston Michels was credited with the lone assist.
Less than four minutes later, Tyler Riegle made the Patriots pay with a powerplay goal, which made it a 2-1 game and would eventually be the game-winner. Keegan McArthur and Logan Crowder picked up the assists. The second period ended 2-1, but not without the collapse of the Patriots, who took 23 penalty minutes in the period.
Still on the powerplay after a five-minute major for spearing was given to Kenneally, the Whalers extended their lead to 3-1 as Raymond Johnson collected his first goal, and Blake Marvici collected his fourth point of the season with the assist. At 18:56, Griffin Erickson sealed the deal for the Whalers when he tacked on an empty net goal to send the Whalers on a three-game win streak to begin the season.
Despite taking the loss, Liam Kelly was outstanding between the pipes for the Patriots. The Whalers peppered him all game long, putting up 52 shots on the 2004 netminder, and he came away with a .942 save percentage (SV%).
Janik Kennedy picked up his second win of the season, stopping 34-of-35 in the winning effort, increasing his overall SV% to .939 on the young season.
Elite Game Two
Game two of the weekend had a completely different look and feel. The first period ended as a scoreless game, but the Patriots took off in the second. Thanks to a four-goal second period from Cox, the Patriots went on to win their first game of the season by a 6-3 final. Lukas Gold and Kayden Suy tallied the other goals.
Five players had multi-point mornings to support the Patriots’ entire offense: Owen Wilkinson (four assists), Suy (one goal, two assists), Nikolai Shevchenko (two assists), John Ruggerio (two assists), and Cox (four goals).
The Whalers put up a good effort to come back in the third period but ultimately fell short. Marvici continued his hot hand to begin the season, tallying two goals and an assist. Michels notched his second goal of the season late in the third period. Johnson collected his second and third assists on the season, while Landon Cordova notched his first assist on the young season.
For the Patriots, Trevor Walmsley was the man to get it done and get two points in the standings for Potomac, stopping 35-of-32 in the winning effort. Nick Kremnister ultimately took the loss in net, letting in four goals on 18 shots before being pulled and replaced by Kennedy. Kennedy would stop 21-of-23 in 27:23 of game time to end the game.
Premier Game One
After a couple of exciting games last weekend between the two clubs, this weekend was guaranteed to be the same. Game one of the weekend set did not disappoint, as the Patriots eventually took it in a 10-round shootout.
At 8:37 of the first period, Matvei Naumov kicked off the scoring to make it a 1-0 Patriots’ lead, with the assists going to Illya Biesiedin and Sergey Kolesov. Just under four minutes into the second period, the Whalers knotted the game up at one as Wyatt Teubert notched his second goal of the season on the powerplay. Three minutes later, Potomac capitalized on its own powerplay opportunity to regain the lead. Biesiedin recorded the goal, with the assists going to Naumov and Bowen Lopez.
Down 2-1 in the final frame, the Whalers looked to get the game tied up early again and did just that. At 1:24, Nikita Zozulia tallied his third goal of the season.
To finish regulation and overtime, the Patriots led the Whalers in shots, 34-31. Both teams went 1-for-3 on the man advantage.
In the shootout, Robbie Rajnys scored the only goal for the Whalers. Naumov, the second shooter, knotted the shootout at one, and Dominykas Jurjevas netted the game-winning goal for the Patriots.
Kirill Guryev picked up the win as he stopped 29 of the 31 shots and 9 of the 10 shootout attempts he faced. Timo Johner picked up a devastating loss for the Whalers. Despite the loss for the blue and green, there has been no shortage of effort to come back in games, and it was just a matter of time before they breakthrough with their first win of the season.
Premier Game Two
Game two of the weekend finally saw the Whalers come away with their first win. Sam Pfeiffer kicked things off at 13:30 of the first period with a shorthanded goal to give the Whale a 1-0 lead heading into the second period. Teubert added another shorthanded goal at 4:31 of the second period to extend the Whalers’ lead to 2. Less than two minutes later, Trevor Riggs cut the lead in half on a powerplay goal. Oskar Jungrave and Jurjevas picked up the assists.
Picking up his fourth tally in three games, Rajnys registered the Whalers’ third special teams goal of the game off a powerplay goal at 10:38 of the second period. Zozulia and Curren Stukey notched the assists. At 16:43, Stukey tallied his first goal of the season, the eventual game-winning goal, off Max Roos and Thor Martin assists.
Potomac made a great effort to come back in the third period as they would make it a 4-3 game late thanks to Jungrave and Lucas Angelstrom recording their second and first goals, respectively.
In his first start, Nate McAlpine picked up his first win in his junior career, stopping 33-of-36. On the other end, Henry Hunt picked up the loss as he was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots. Guryev came on in relief and stopped all 14 shots he faced in 23:17 between the pipes.
