Snakes Bury Jaguars Early, Then Pad It With Brant

Silver Snakes scored seven times in the first period and held on through a Red Jaguars rally to win 14-8, with Jordan Brant finishing on five goals and four assists.

The game was largely decided before the first period ended. Nolan Mock opened the scoring, Brandon Curtis added two quick goals, and by midway through the period the Snakes led 5-0. Mock and Ryan Flick each scored late to make it 7-1, with Bryce Bair's goal for the Red Jaguars the only answer.

Red Jaguars made it a game early in the second. Hunter Partsch, Cory Mesteller and Bair scored in succession to cut it to 7-4. Curtis, Mock and Flick then scored for the Snakes in the rest of the period, Flick's coming in the final minute, and the lead was back to 10-4.

Brant took over the third, scoring four of his five goals in the period, three of them in a midway burst that made it 13-5. Partsch kept the Jaguars scoring with three goals in the period, including one in the final minute, and finished with four goals and an assist. Mesteller scored twice and Bill Sipko had two assists.

In goal, Tyson Botteicher made 40 saves on 54 shots for the Red Jaguars, and Dean Carpenter stopped 33 of 41 for the Snakes. Curtis finished with three goals and three assists, Mock had four goals, and Flick had two goals and two assists. Brian Donnely picked up an assist.

The Silver Snakes improve to 2-3-0; the Red Jaguars slip to 3-2-0.