Pierog grabs Gordie Howe hat trick in Monarchs victory

Sign Up For Our FREE Daily eNews!

Pierog
Nic Pierog (credit – China Wong)

MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs broke a two-game slide on Saturday night, defeating the Maine Mariners 5-2.

Manchester drew first blood, with Nic Pierog wristed one from between the blue line and the left faceoff circle past the glove side of Maine netminder Chris Neil near the middle of the first period.

Continuing a recent trend, Manchester lost that early lead, with Zach Tolkinen evening things up for the Mariners with a power play goal around six minutes before the first intermission.

The Monarchs bounced back in the second, first with a goal from Nick Moultrey followed later by Pierog’s second goal of the night as well as Spencer Watson’s third goal of the season.

Maine’s Alex Kile provided the visitors a power play goal in the third, and Moultrey adding an empty netter to finish the scoreline, with Pierog assisting.

In what may portend the beginning of a nascent regional rivalry, the contest marked Manchester’s first fighting penalties of the season, first with Colton Saucerman’s five-minute major in the first period, as well as a third-period scuffle that sent defenceman Craig Wyszomirski to the box and a fight for Pierog to seal his Gordie Howe hat trick.

The Monarchs return to the ice on Wednesday as they host the Brampton Beast. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

 

 

 

About this Author

Andrew Sylvia

Assistant EditorManchester Ink Link

Born and raised in the Granite State, Andrew Sylvia has written approximately 10,000 pieces over his career for outlets across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. On top of that, he's a licensed notary and licensed to sell property, casualty and life insurance, he's been a USSF trained youth soccer and futsal referee for the past six years and he can name over 60 national flags in under 60 seconds according to that flag game app he has on his phone, which makes sense because he also has a bachelor's degree in geography (like Michael Jordan). He can also type over 100 words a minute on a good day.