MOCCASINS COME UP SHORT IN VALENTINE’S DAY BATTLE AGAINST BATON ROUGE

MONROE, LA -  In a tightly contested Valentine’s Day matchup, the Monroe Moccasins came up short against the Baton Rouge Zydeco, dropping the game 3-2 at the Monroe Civic Center.

The Moccasins struck first at 10:44 of the opening period when Blake Anderson buried a feed from Kyle Heitzner and Hugo Koch to give Monroe a 1-0 lead. However, Baton Rouge quickly responded, with Elijah Wilson tying the game at 13:27 off assists from Narek Aleksanyan and Scott Shorrock. The Zydeco capitalized again just before the first intermission, as Nick Ketola found the back of the net at 19:50 to put Baton Rouge up 2-1.

Monroe pulled even in the second period thanks to their power play. Corey Cunningham converted at 15:18, finishing off a setup from Scott Coash and Frank Schumacher to make it 2-2 heading into the final frame.

With both teams pressing in the third, it was Baton Rouge that broke through. At 13:45, Dmitry Kuznetsov delivered the decisive goal, assisted by Elias Thompson and Kevin Szabad, giving the Zydeco the edge. Despite a late push, Monroe couldn't find the equalizer.

With the win, Baton Rouge improved to 15-10-5-4-3, while Monroe fell to 13-14-5-1-3. The Moccasins will look to bounce back in their next outing as they continue their push in the standings.