(MACON, Ga.) – Macon had their final home game spoiled by a tough outing against the Huntsville Havoc, 3-0.
There were some early fireworks to start the game, but not for goals, for the haymakers thrown. Matteo Ybarra and Charlie Risk dropped the gloves during a large scrum after Huntsville forward Giovanni Procopio received a minor penalty for elbowing at 3:16 into the period. The gladiator battle did not stop there; Stefan Miklakos tussled with Dawson Sciarrino a little after the Mayhem power play for Miklakos’ first fight. Both teams seemed even, with Macon having a slight edge in generating opportunities. However, the Havoc would strike first off a turnover in the neutral zone at the blue line, where Cole Reginato eventually made a good move to beat Sebastian Resar five-hole. The physical battle continued till the end of the period, with the havoc in front 1-0.
The second period did not start the way the Mayhem wanted it to. Ybarra was called for a high-sticking penalty 1:05 into the period, which the Havoc took advantage of. With only a couple of seconds left on the power play, Lincoln Erne would score, giving Huntsville the 2-0 insurance. The Mayhem would get two power plays, 36 seconds apart, not much later. The first power play was a good one for the Mayhem. They had many chances and felt like momentum was beginning to build. However, the second power play sucked the life out of any momentum built. After that, Huntsville returned to the shutdown defense that, in turn, resulted in some small chances. Huntsville’s management of the puck and time limited the Mayhem’s chances. The shot count read 28-24 in favor of Huntsville after two periods.
The Havoc tried to give the Mayhem every opportunity possible to come back in the game, but Macon just could not put anything together to push back. The mayhem had four power plays in the period, one was less than 30 seconds at the end of the period, and the other was a double minor (four minutes). That’s over eight minutes of power play time that the Mayhem had to work with on the man advantage that they could not produce a single goal on. The four-minute double minor power play saw only one Mayhem shot on goal. Huntsville goaltender Alex Proctor stopped all 34 shots he faced, but he really was not tested all that hard. One thing to note, after a late scrum, Miklakos and Josh Kestner both received misconducts, which ended their nights. Their status for the final games next week could be in question. Huntsville would add an empty net goal for a final score of 3-0.
The Mayhem are on the road to wrap up their season as they push for the playoffs next weekend, starting Thursday, April 2, against the Fayetteville Marksmen.
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