Dayton Loses 8-3 to Hammerheads As Slide Continues...

It's a tough time to be a Dayton Musicman right now.

The Halifax Hammerheads handled the hosts with ease last night at the Dayton Soundstage Arena in front of a crowd of 11,478, the smallest crowd of the still young season.

Dayton's 4th loss in a row and 6th loss in its last 7 games has the team looking for answers.

Halifax led 1-0 after the first in a period that was reasonably close. The Hammerheads outshot Dayton 11-7 in the first twenty minutes.

In the second, newcomer Jakob Vorocek scored a power-play goal at the:23 mark, with Jake Guentzel in the penalty box at the time.

Mark Stuart, now tied for the league-lead in shots blocked with 16 on the season, scored to make it a 2-1 game halfway through the second period. It was Stuart's first goal of the year.

Before the stanza had ended Jason Faulk and Vorocek had added to the Hammerheads lead, and the 'Men were down 4-1 heading into the third period.

Guentzel scored his 6th of the year at the 5:24 mark to make it a two-goal deficit. Chimera and Barkov then traded goals in the middle of the period as the scoring continued, but then Halifax stepped on the gas as they scored three goals in the next 2:43 to erase any question about the outcome and left Ohio with an 8-3 victory in their pocket.

"That's not a very good team right now," said Vorocek. Usually coming in here is a tough, tough test, but right now, those guys seem pretty lost. The talent up front is undeniable and Elliot is a solid CCHL goalie, but they seem disorganized. Their breakouts are a mess. Did you see Beauchemin screaming at the forwards to come back? It's tough to move the puck up ice when the three forwards are waiting for you on the other team's blueline. What's the defense supposed to do?"

Finals shots on goal were 59-22 in favor of Halifax.

What's next?

The league-leading Calgary Chinook, who lost for just the second time all year last night to Ottawa, visit Dayton Sunday evening. Returning to Ohio are Sidney Crosby, Artemi Panarin, Joe Pavelski, Antoine Vermette and Shea Weber.