With only 3 minutes and 48 seconds left of the game you could hear parts of the crowd cheering “RUNKEL….RUNKEL….WE WANT RUNKEL”. The Hounds fans wanted to take Pierce Bassett out and put Jack Runkel. Florida was ahead 19-9 and the fans just didn’t want to get stomped any more.
The game though started out on a high note for Charlotte with a goal under 2 minutes into the game. Florida quickly tied it up with a goal from Steven Brooks. Florida was able to gain two more points to end the quarter with them ahead 3-1.
Going into the second quarter, Kieran McArdle was able to get his first goal of the game 50 seconds in. This quarter brought more action into the game. Charlotte had Brett Schmidt going into the penalty box 4 times and Florida sent Jovan Miller twice. With men down and a power play between, Mike Chanenchuck and Kevin Cunningham scored for Charlotte, McArdle and Casey Powell scoring for Florida. The score ending the first half was Florida up 8-4.
Charlotte began to look like they wanted to take back the lead of the game in the beginning of the third. Mike Sawyer and Jake Tripucka owned the ball, that is till Steven Brooks, Lyle Thompson and Conner Buczek were able to get a hold of it. Brooks was able to complete his hat trick, leading Thompson to make his two powerplays getting assists from Buzek and Powell.
Following these two great plays, Buzek scored an amazing two pointer without an assist. Charlotte slipping away with the third ending at 13-7 Florida.
With a terrible lightning storm approaching, the two teams continued to play while it was still safe. Thompson finished off his sock trick plus one while McArdle finished off his hat trick. You could see the stress begin to rise in the eyes of Charlotte as the clock began to whine down. Charlotte was able to finish off with two more goals ending the game at 19-9.
The final score really came down to the MVP of the game Lyle Thompson with his 7 goals and 1 assist and Austin Kaut’s 18 saves.
Florida and Charlotte will face off again next week for the Hounds’ last home game. Could last night have been simply home field advantage? We will find out when they take eachother on again 7/11 at 3:30 esT
