Netminder Luke Brassil turned aside all 17 shots he faced to backstop the Danbury Hat Tricks to a 4–0 road victory over the New Hampshire Mountain Kings on Friday night in the first game of a two-game series.
The win was fueled by balanced scoring and key contributions from newcomers. Luke Melnick, Rhys Medved, and Parker Deschene each netted their first career NAHL goals, while Peter Freel tallied his second of the season.
Melnick got the offense started late in the opening period, breaking the scoreless tie with 3:18 remaining. Assists went to Matt Shpungin and Jeremy Sprung. Just two minutes later, Freel doubled the Hat Tricks’ advantage at 18:26 with help from Willem Kerr and Ben Dempster.
Danbury kept the pressure rolling in the second period. Medved extended the lead to 3–0 at the 3:00 mark, finishing off a sharp cross-ice pass from Kerr. Deschene capped the scoring just three minutes later, converting on a setup from Kai Elkie.
Kerr and Dempster each recorded two assists in the win. On the other end, New Hampshire goaltenders combined to stop 21 of 25 shots. Brassil’s shutout marked the earliest clean sheet in team history to start a season.
With the victory, the Hat Tricks moved to 4-3-0-1 on the season, good for nine points.
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