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Mayhem Grab 1st Win on the Season over Fayetteville

The Macon Mayhem earned their first win of the campaign on the second game of the year taking down the Marksmen 3-2.
Credit: 13WMAZ
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MACON, GA- Looking to split the series on their home opening weekend, the Mayhem conjured up a 3-2 victory over the Fayetteville Marksmen on Saturday night.

Macon played with fire a bit in the early going when Justin Levac was found guilty of hooking at 4:37. Fayetteville’s power play had scored the night previous and was on a roll, but the Mayhem penalty killers fought it off brilliantly.

Caleb Cameron created a handful of chances following well-timed jumps on the forecheck, but the Mayhem could not capitalize off some early takeaways. However, they did score the first goal of the game and secured their first lead of the season at 17:39. Justin Levac worked the puck along the goal line and set up Dakota Klecha in close quarters. The veteran winger fired a quick shot past Dillon Kelley to give the Mayhem a 1-0 advantage. Making his Mayhem debut, Gordon Defiel was perfect in goal in the first period, stopping all 14 shots he faced.

Fayetteville wasted no time drawing even, scoring just 2:40 into the second period. After a long shift applying pressure in the Macon zone, David Mazurek set up Darren McCormick in the slot. McCormick put the puck onto his backhand and shifted towards Defiel, shoveling a shot past the goaltender to put the Marksmen on the board.

Recovering after an allowed goal has been one of the Mayhem’s strengths during this young season, and they managed to do so again after about six minutes. Defenseman Brandon Fehd received a crisp pass above the right circle from Klecha in the opposite corner. Fehd wound up and rifled a slap shot, which redirected off an opposing stick and past Kelley to regain Macon’s lead.

Just 40 seconds after the goal, Zach Urban was struck up high by Nolan Sheeran, who was attempting to dump the puck past him and pursue it. Urban took exception to the contact and dropped the gloves, commencing the Mayhem’s first fight of the 2018-19 season. Sheeran had the edge in the scrap at first, but Urban recovered and took Sheeran down.

The third period was fairly quiet until the 12-minute mark, when Urban sprung Jake Trask on a 2-on-1 with Sam Wilbur. The two of them connected on a give-and-go, and Trask buried his first goal of the season with a tap-in strike.

With just over three minutes remaining in regulation and his team down by two, Fayetteville Head Coach Jesse Kallechy pulled his goaltender for a sixth attacker. The risky maneuver paid off almost immediately, as Taylor Pryce brought the Marksmen to within one with 3:02 remaining on the clock. However, Defiel held his ground for the rest of the night, and backstopped the Mayhem to their first victory of the season.

Defiel was stellar in his Mayhem debut, stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced. Kelley was charged with his first defeat as a Marksman, denying 31 of 34. The Mayhem will return to the Macon Centreplex on Friday, October 26th to take on the Knoxville Ice Bears on First Responders Night. Puck drop is set for 7:35 pm.

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