The Rochester rattlers took on their in-state rival New York lizards in a heated contest to see who would bump up to a 4-5 record. As predictions were said, it was a close battle. Opening up the scoring was veteran Matt Striebel, who blasted his league leading fifth two-point goal past goaltender Drew Adams. New York responded with three straight goals of their own with one from rookie sensation Rob Pannell and the other two scored by Stephen Berger, giving the Lizards their only lead of the afternoon. Ending the first quarter scoring was Kevin Leveille who was fed by Striebel to notch the game a three.
In the second quarter, Coach Soudan’s team put their foot on the gas and went on a 6-1 run. Striebel was involved again for the rats first goal of the second, hitting jordan MacIntosh for the score. During his team’s second EMO, Dave Lawson picked up his first point of the afternoon. Matt Gibson showed his colors to try and stop the bleeding, scoring a spectacular diving goal to make it 5-4. It was followed by another MacIntosh goal. LSM Joel White made his mark offensively, scoring his first goal of the season. Lawson then shot a laser by Adams, with Ned Crotty ending the 6-1 run off a Leveille feed during the fast break, giving his team a five goal lead. 9-4 Rochester.
It was not until the third quarter that Tommy Palasek got involved for the green and black with the assist coming from Mark Matthews. Not to be outdone by White, CJ Costabile picked up a goal. Helping Leveille get his first hat-trick of the season were Lawson and Crotty who hit Kevin for two more goals to make it 11-6.
Pannell took off in the fourth, scoring three goals, with teammate Berger banking in a goal to record his hat-trick as well. Before Rob’s two final goals of the fourth, Rochester’s White scored his second, with a goal by rookie John Ranagan not too soon after.
With this victory, the Rattlers jump up to a 405 record and have a three way tie for fourth place with Boston and Charlotte. New York drops to 3-6 and have to have some magic come their way soon. The Lizards will travel to Denver on July 4 and do battle with the undefeated Outlaws. Having off until the seventh will be nice for the Rattlers as they will host Denver three days later on July 7.
