By Tori Wittenbrock
Associate Sports Editor
GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Gamblers (12-6-1-0) faced a tight loss to the Madison Capitols (9-5-2-1) at the Resch Center on Saturday, Nov. 18.
Just 27 seconds into the game, the Gamblers netted a goal to give themselves an early lead.
Josh Player buried a slapshot from defense for the 1-0 advantage in the first minute.
Seven minutes into the game, Tanner Bruender saw a breakaway and was able to get a shot off during a penalty kill in the first period, but was not able to find the back of the net.
Madison soon retaliated with a goal to even up the score at 1-1, 11 minutes and 22 seconds into the first period by Rainers Rullers.
However, the Capitols didn’t get much time to breathe when Gamblers player Julian Lutz scored his ninth goal of the season just 30 seconds later to take back the lead.
Green Bay continued to display decent puck movement across the ice until Jason Gallucci was able to hit a shot that was blocked by the Capitols goalie.
Bruender gave the Capitols a chance to even up the score when he was exiled to the penalty box for hooking at the end of Period 1.
After coming out strong at the beginning of the second period, Capitols player Austin Burnevik evened the score up at 2-2 with a 16th minute goal, followed up by an 11th minute goal by James Hong for a 3-2 lead.
Geno Carcone came back for Green Bay to tie up tha game with a score that would hold until the end of the second period. His 12th minute goal gave the Gamblers a big opportunity to come out and play for the win in this period.
However, the in-state rivalry brought a lot of passion out of both teams.
With seven minutes left in the period, Luke Baker of the Gamblers was charged with a penalty for roughing and Madison was charged a two-minute penalty for holding a few minutes later.
Canadian player Ben Poitras of the Gamblers was ejected for the remainder of the game with less than two minutes left in the second period after battling it out in the center of the rink with a Madison Capitol.
The score remained 3-3 at the end of the second period.
Both teams continued to play through a heated battle at the start of the third period when Baker and James Mackey of the Capitols were charged a five-minute penalty for misconduct just seconds after the start of the period.
However, a fifth-minute goal by Max Nagel, assisted by Andrew Kuzma brought the Capitols to a 4-3 lead.
The battle continued to heat up when Misha Danylov ripped a shot from a distance, assisted by Chris Romaine and Rasmus Larsson that tied the game with just under 12 minutes left.
After a lengthy review, the officials determined that the goal would stand.
Yet, a goal by Madison had the Gamblers scrambling with just 3:47 left in the game.
In an attempt to overcome the one goal deficit, the Gamblers elected to pull their goalie to even the score, but a Madison Capitols breakaway put the nail in the coffin with 11 seconds to go, bringing a 6-4 final to end the game.