Ford Shines in Akins Ford, Lobsters Defeat Pee Dee in Final Meeting

Ford Shines in Akins Ford, Lobsters Defeat Pee Dee in Final Meeting

ATHENS, GA. - The Athens Rock Lobsters ended their regular-season series with the Pee Dee IceCats with a 7-3 victory Wednesday night at Akins Ford Arena.

Xavier Abdella opened up the scoring with his first goal of the season, faking one shot and netting with his next at the 13:04 mark of the first period.

Opening his account with the Rock Lobsters, Gus Ford sniped a tight-angle shot to equalize later on in the frame.

Athens found another gear in the middle period, tallying three unanswered goals through Daniil Glukharyov, Filip Virgili and Luke Croucher. All three came from rebounds or deflections at the net front.

The IceCats struck twice late in the second, Houston Wilson at even strength and a power-play buzzer beater from Dominiks Marcinkevics with a second left.

The third belonged to the hosts however, with Ford prompting a three-goal period with a one timer off a Garrett Milan feed from behind the net past Parker Rutherford.

Eli Lieffers and Joe Mack would follow suit with a very similar goal, with the latter making it 6-3. 

Seventeen seconds later, Croucher found the twine with his second deflection of the game; the goal to make it 7-3 would put the IceCats on ice.

The Rock Lobsters (28-8-7-0, 98 pts) travel to Winston Salem, N.C. for the first time this season to take on the Twin City Thunderbirds on Friday, March 13 at 7:35 p.m.