Forge Open Season with Weekend Sweep of Thousand Islands

VALENCIA, PA - The Iron City Forge hosted the Thousand Island Raiders, October 18th and 19th at Frozen Pond Arena. 

The Forge got the goal scoring started with Alec Krause’s first in the APHL to give Iron City a 1-0 lead. A Talon Rifenburg penalty would put the Raiders on the man advantage in the final moments of the first period but that didn’t stop Jake Ochwat speeding down the ice to bury his first career goal shorthanded and give the Forge the lead headed to the dressing room.

Anthony (A.J) Bellman would expand the Iron City lead early in the second, his first of his career before the Raiders would quickly get one back. The Forge responded with a pair from Johnny McGuire and Ricky Crum’s first career goal to take a 5-1 lead into the break. 

Kolten Oakes-Cook would open the third for Thousand Island to cut this to a two-goal game. The Forge offense stormed back piling on five straight goals from Chase Frye (his first), a pair from Michael Keller, Bellman’s second of the night, and Jacob Sakulsky first career goal. The Raiders would get one more late followed by Keller completing his hat trick to close out the game. The Forge would take their home opening contest 11-4. Goaltender Kodey Silvis stopped 33/37 collecting his first win of the season.

Going into game 2 of the weekend, the Forge looked to hold onto the high of last game, and they did exactly that, opening up the contest with 3 straight goals from Frye, Ochwat, and Crum. Cook and the Raiders would buy one back on the powerplay but a short-lived momentum shift would be changed by a Sakulsky goal. We would then see our first fight of the season between Ochwat and Luke Blair at the 8:59 mark to energize both benches. Crum would bury his second of the game shortly after and the Forge would take a 5-1 lead to the dressing room. 

Richard Doyle would collect his first career goal to open the second, followed by Sakulsky’s second of the game. The Raiders would respond with three straight including a powerplay goal and suddenly the game was within three.

Iron City wouldn’t let this one slip in the third with Ben Cunningham and Ryan Dickson burying their firsts of the season to get Iron City ahead by 5. The Raiders would find the back of the net one last time with four seconds, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Forge swept the weekend series with a 9-5 win. Goaltender Freddie Dorman collected his first APHL win stopping 46/51. Overall, 7 players collected their first career goals this weekend in a historic series for the franchise. 

As it currently stands forward Michael Keller leads the APHL in points (7), second in assists (4), and third in goals (3). Jacob Sakulsky and Ricky Crum also join Keller tied in the goal category as Ryan Dickson is tied in the assist's column. Sakulsky and Dickson also sit tied for 4th in points with 5. Daniel Schmitt and Ricky Crum lead the league in plus/minus with a +8, with Keller and Dickson now far behind with a +7. 

The Forge will battle the Raiders once more October 31st and November 1st in Clayton, NY. The next homestand for Iron City will be December 13th and 14th as they host the reigning APHL champion Buffalo Tempest. Tickets are on sale now at IronCityForge.com/tickets.

By: Cadeyn McCrory