WALPOLE – Score early, score often.
With a final score more fitting of a football game, the Conacher Hockey Shamrocks outdueled the Daytona Racers Green in a barnburner on Saturday at Rodman Arena, scoring plenty in their 13-5 victory. It was their first win of the 2015 New England Pro-Am Pre-Draft Showcase, coming in their third and final game of the opening round.
Conacher’s offense seemed to save its best for last, nearly tripling its goal total from their previous two contests. Ryan Mooney got it start less than a minute into the contest. His goal started an assault that ran the Shamrocks’ lead to 4-0 before Eric Strait stemmed the bleeding with his tally at 17:21. The Racers, however, did not quell the barrage for long, as the Shamrocks put together another three-goal run before Racers forward Jordan Morales chipped in his team’s second of the contest at 21:50 to send the game to the intermission at 7-2.
The Racers faired a bit better after the break, increasing their goal output from the first by one, while holding the Shamrocks to one fewer, but Conacher still doubled up Daytona in the frame, 6-3, to complete the easy 13-5 win.
Shamrocks centerman Mykolai Chmilenko (3G, 2A) led all scorers in the contest with five points, with teammates Erik Rusis and Ruslan Geidarov just behind with two goals and two assists each. Strait and Cody Ritter each had two goals and an assist to lead the Racers.
