The Patriots dropped their third game in a row Sunday afternoon as the team fell to South Kingstown 7 -3 at the Abbey.  The loss was the team/s fifth in its last six games, and mired them in seventh place in the league standings with one regular season game left to play before the playoffs begin.

 

Senior forward Lucas Noreau opened the scoring in the game with his first career goal off a breakaway just three minutes into the contest.  Portsmouth followed up with goals by William Hayes in the second period and Niklas Pedersen in the third, but it wasn’t enough as the Rebels poured in two goals in the first two periods and three in the third period.  Aidan Toner and Connor Little assisted on Hayes goal.

 

Once again the Patriots were plagued by penalty problems which hindered their efforts to build any momentum.  The team ran up eight penalties for 24 minutes and found itself in penalty killing situations five times.  The Rebels cashed in for a goal on one of those chances.

 

Portsmouth was outshot in the game 42-20.  Goalie Sam Stamoulis, who started the game, was replaced in the net with four minutes to go in the third period after allowing seven goals on 39 shots.  Chris Dutra stepped in to finish the contest and made three saves along the way.

 

Portsmouth’s final regular season game is slated for next Sunday, February 23 at the Abbey.  The puck will drop to start the contest with the Toll Gate Titans at 1:00 pm.  One of the highlights of the day will be the annual Seniors Recognition Ceremony, where the team celebrates all the seniors at the game, and specially recognizes the senior Patriots who will be playing their final regular season game on their home ice at the Abbey.  This year the team has a large group of nine players who will be feted in the pre-game event.

 

The sixteen game regular season will be complete after next week’s game and the playoffs are set to begin the following weekend.  While Portsmouth is all but assured of a spot in the post season, it is still mathematically possible for the squad to be eliminated from the post season.  For that to happen, though, some very unusual results would have to happen in several other games around the league next week.  The most likely scenarios have the team finishing either seventh or eighth in the final standings and facing off in the first round with the first or second seed in the tournament.

 

The team still needs your support.  Get to the Abbey next weekend for the  game and cheer for the Patriots.  See you at the rink.