by Tessa Deemer
ABERDEEN, SD. (November 27th, 2024) — After a weekend away, the Shamrocks head down the street to the Odde Ice Arena to take on the Aberdeen Wings. The Shamrocks record moves to 3-16-2-1 before the holiday, while the Wings move to 14-7-1-0.
The first period was scoreless with Aberdeen outshooting Watertown 13-7. At 9:24, Ryan Gingher was sent to the box on a tripping call. After a successful kill, the Shamrocks were granted a powerplay opportunity at 12:32 with a high-sticking call on Brady Estabrook. Neither side generated much in the way of quality scoring chances in the opening frame.
Going into the second, the Wings were off to a quick start as leading scorer Leonid Bulgakov found the back of the net 99 seconds into the period. The Shamrocks pushed for a tying goal but fell short in the period being outshot 11-8. Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the period.
Entering the third with a 2-0 deficit, the Shamrocks looked to find the higher ground outshooting Aberdeen 16-10. However, things turned south early in the period when Bulgakov scored his second of the game just 35 seconds into the period. The Shamrocks had their chances to come back as the Wings got sent to the penalty box with two penalties: Brady Estabrook at 4:06 and Bulgakov at 13:51. But failures on the man-advantage for the Shamrocks helped propel the Wings to an eventual 3-0 win after Bulgakov burried an empty net goal to complete the hat trick.
Back in the net, Phileas Lachat recorded 31 saves on 33 shots for the Shamrocks. Wings’ goalie, Willum Braun recorded a shutout stopping all 31 shots flung towards his net.