Bobcats Blank Venom 6-0, Clinch First Ever Playoff Berth

WYTHEVILLE, VA

In a dominant performance on home ice, the Blue Ridge Bobcats shut out HC Venom 6-0, and thanks to the Columbus River Dragons defeat of the Monroe Moccasins, clinched their first Commissioner's Cup Playoff berth in franchise history.

The Bobcats dominated all 60 minutes and all 200 feet of ice at Hitachi Energy Arena. The only goal of the opening frame came from Nick Stuckless. The Orangeville, ON native used a Venom defenseman as a screen and sniped home the first shorthanded goal of the season for Blue Ridge unassisted with just under 4 minutes remaining in the 1st.

For the second straight game, the Bobcats feasted and put forth a feline fury of four goals in the second period. Hunter Godmere secured his second hat trick of the season with 3 of the 4 second period markers, with his first coming at the 7:49 mark.

Godmere followed at 13:03, completing a tic-tac-toe goal with help from a point slap pass from Filip Hlavac and a backdoor backtap feed from captain Danny Martin. 53 seconds later, Ivan Ponivanov gave Brandon Reller an early egg for his Easter Basket when he turned the puck over to the "blonde headed beast" on the doorstep for a short side snipe on John Moriarty to push the lead to 4-0. Less than 3 minutes after Reller, Godmere completed his hat trick by putting his own rebound home to make it a 5-0 game.

Nick Stuckless picked up his second of the game, also unassisted, for the exclamation point in the third when he stole the puck away from a Venom defender just after a faceoff and sniped a wrist shot past Moriarty.

Stuckless earned third star honors for his dual-unassisted goal effort. Godmere's hat trick netted him second star, and Greg Hussey earned first star for the second consecutive game with a 35-save shutout, his third in a Bobcats sweater.

The two teams complete their 8-game season series tomorrow night at Hitachi Energy Arena on BOGO Ticket Night. Doors open at 6:30 PM with puck drop set for 7:30.