The Fayetteville Marksmen (1-1-3) returned to the Civic Coliseum against the Knoxville Ice Bears (3-1-1) for the third time in a week on Friday night.
The first period started with a fight between Fayetteville defenseman Austin D’Orazio and Knoxville center Blake Tosto. That was the highlight as the first period remained scoreless. The Marksmen had 13 shots on goal.
In the second period, Knoxville right winger Ryan Kuzmich put the Ice Bears up 1-0 with an assist by Spencer Bellina at 8:13. Then, at 12:18, Knoxville left winger Davide Gaeta made it 2-0 with assists from Blake Tosto and Spencer Bellina. The Marksmen had 17 shots on goal.
Fayetteville began a comeback in the third period when right winger Lincoln Moore cut Knoxville’s lead to 2-1 at 6:44 with assists by Shane Murphy and Payton Schaly. Late in the game, Fayetteville center Blake Humphrey tied the game 2-2 at 14:13 with assists from Payton Schaly and Alex Davis. It was Humphrey’s fourth goal of the season, Schaly’s second assist of the night. Fayetteville had 18 shots on goal, and the game went to overtime.
Knoxville ended the game in overtime at 2:39 by left winger Frankie Ireland with an assist from Davide Gaeta. The Marksmen lost again the Ice Bears by the final score of 3-2. Fayetteville had three shots in overtime.
Fayetteville finished the night with 51 shots on goal, 0 for 4 on the power play, and goaltender Jacob Mucitelli made 48 of 51 saves. Frankie Ireland was the first star, Stephen Mundinger was the second star, and Ryan Kuzmich was the third star.
Fayetteville returns to the Crown Coliseum on Thursday night against the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs at 10 am on FloSports. It is the first School Day Game presented by PWC.
