Athens Rock Lobsters Take Down Columbus (GA) River Dragons 5-1

With the local media in Athens, GA ignoring the new hockey team in town I am attempting to provide game stories when possible.

Athens, GA (Jan 03, 2025) - Coming in with a three-game winning streak after losing two straight to the Columbus River Dragons, the 5^th place (Continental Division) Athens Rock Lobsters (13-4, 34 pts) opened up a two-game division play home ice series with the 3^rd Place River Dragons (15-7, 45 pts) in Athens, GA tonight.   

The Columbus River Dragons bench during the 2nd period of their
January 3, 2024 loss to the Athens Rock Lobsters (Eye on Sports Media)

The Rock Lobsters sought to send a message early, scoring two unanswered goals in a 2:21 span in the first 5:20 of the game.  #17 Filip Virgili (6) scored first at the 3:08 mark, with assists going to #4 Joseph Colatarci (7) and #9 Kayson Gallant (7).  #28 Brendan Ronan (1) followed up with his first goal of the season at the 5:20 mark, with assists going to #22 Alden Hunter (6) and #36 Matthew Garcia (4).  A third goal at 18:01 was waived off for goalie interference.

The Rock Lobsters struck early in the second period with #76 Brandon Picard (7) scoring at the 00:44 mark to make the score 3-0.  Assists were credited to #14 Carter Shinkaruk (16) and #10 Garrett Milan (17).

Columbus finally struck back with a goal at 6:22 with a goal by #10 Cody Wikline (6) to cut the score to 3-1.  Assists were credited to #7 Justin MacDonald (9) and #88 Ryan Hunter (8).

At the 2:29 mark of the 3^rd period, Athens again wanted to make an early statement, with Virgili (7) scoring his second goal of the game on a power play to make the score 4-1, with assists credited to Milan (18) and Shinkaruk (17).

Virgili (9) completed the hat trick at 10:35 of the 3^rd period, with the assists going to Ronan (2)  and Gallant(8), putting the Rock Lobsters up 5-1 to put the game away.

With the win, the Rock Lobsters picked up three important points in the standings, pulling within eight points of the third-place River Dragons, despite having played five fewer games than Columbus, and within eight points of the 2^nd Place Baron Rouge Zydeco, despite having played eight fewer games than Baton Rouge (Baton Rouge was losing 4-1 to the Blue Ridge Bobcats after the 2nd period when the Athens – Columbus game ended).

Scary Moment of the Game

At 15:28 in the 3^rd Period, Columbus River Dragon Steven Klinck took a serious hit into the boards and had to be helped off the ice and to the locker room.

Press Box Conversation

Talking with Classic Center Director Paul Cramer about the Construction Contract woes that delayed the opening of the Akins Ford Arena, he said that the contract was NOT between the Classic Center Authority and the construction company.  He said the Athens-Clarke County awarded the contract.  More to investigate on this...after the game, Columbus River Dragons play-by-play announcer Tom Callahan said that Steven Klinck is injury prone, and that he had just come back after missing three to four games.  Callahan said he might end up being one of those players you talk about in the vein that "he could have been so good but the injuries."  He pointed out that he scored 35 goals on a bad Elmira team last year,

Lobster Bits: 

-- The Athens Rock Lobsters have had nine overtime games in their 18 games played this season, going 7 - 2 in those games, picking up 16 points (14 points for the wins, two points for the losses).  The two overtime losses were back-to-back against the Columbus River Dragons in a home and home series December 20-21, 2024.

-- The four-shot margin of victory is the Rock Lobsters largest margin of victory since a 7-2 victory over the Danville( IL) Dashers on Saturday, October 26, 2024 and their largest margin of victory at home.

-- C Filip Virgili became the first Rock Lobster with a hat trick this season.

-- With this win, the Athens Rock Lobsters broke a two-loss losing streak to the Columbus River Dragons this season.  Both of those were back-to-back overtime losses in a home and home series December 20-21, 2024.

-- The Athens Rock Lobsters are now 5-1 on their home ice this season, and 4-1 during this nine-game homestand.  The Rock Lobsters have won five of their last seven games.

-- The Rock Lobsters attendance has averaged 3,842 per game over their first five home games, third in the FPHL.