A third-period hat trick by Niko Benjamin lifted the Utica Jr. Comets to a 4-2 win over the Twin City Thunder on Saturday afternoon in a USPHL NCDC New England Division game at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York.
“Good things happen when you throw pucks to the net,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “That’s what I tell everybody. But give the kid credit, he played well. They are a good hockey team, but I thought we played well enough to get two points.”
Seth Ferguson had a goal and an assist for Utica (20-13-3, 43 points) and Robert Gatewood had two assists.
After Ferguson tied the game at 1-1 in the second period, Benjamin scored early in the third for a 2-1 lead.
Patrick Last responded four minutes into the third period for the Thunder (8-20-2, 18 points) to tie the game at 2-2.
Last gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead in the first period. Gavin Connelly and Leo Mantenuto had the assists on the first goal.
“He works hard every night,” Hodge said of Last. “It’s very nice to see him get a couple of goals. His hard work is paying off.”
Benjamin scored on the power play midway through the third period for the game-winning goal and added another goal in the final minute for a 4-2 lead.
“It really came down to plays, and we didn’t get the puck out of the zone,” Hodge said.
Utica went 2 for 3 on the man advantage and Twin City went 0 for 3.
While the Thunder didn’t have any luck on the power play, Hodge said he liked the way the players battled throughout the game.
“We competed today, we competed in different situations,” Hodge said. “We tried to take away their time and space, create turnovers, eliminating ours.”
Cameron Manley made 31 saves for his second win of the weekend. Ludvig Svensson turned aside 29 shots in the loss for the Thunder.
The Thunder visit the Connecticut Jr. Rangers next Saturday and Sunday.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.