MONROE, LA - The Monroe Moccasins continued their surge atop the Continental Division on Friday night, extending their winning streak to 17 games with a 4-1 victory over the Topeka Scarecrows at the Monroe Civic Center.
The win kept Monroe in first place in the Continental Division and improved the Moccasins to 24-4-2-2-0 on the season. Monroe also moved to 13-2-0-1-0 on home ice and improved to 3-0 against Topeka; the only Empire Division opponent the Moccasins will face during the regular season.
Monroe struck first early in the opening period when Austin Albrecht opened the scoring at 3:52, finishing a setup from Rasmus Asp and Carlos Fornaris. Topeka responded midway through the period as Trevor Grasby tied the game at 10:10, sending the teams into the intermission tied at 1-1.
The Moccasins took control in the second period; Albrecht netted his second of the night short-handed at 8:54 to give Monroe the lead, before Yianni Liarakos extended it to 3-1 on the power play at 19:26.
The short-handed goal proved to be costly for Topeka, who entered the night having just allowed one short-handed goal all season; the fewest in the FPHL. The Scarecrows surrendered two short-handed goals in the loss, as Andrew Bellant added an empty-net short-handed goal at the end of the third period to make it 4-1.
Monroe now has 10 short-handed goals on the season and finished the night outshooting Topeka 45-29. They held the Scarecrows scoreless on the power play (0/7), shutting down the league’s second-ranked unit.
With the loss, Topeka fell to 15-10-0-4-0. Saturday night’s game between the two teams has been canceled due to a winter storm and will be rescheduled at a later date. The Moccasins remain one of the hottest teams in the FPHL heading deeper into the second half of the season.
FPHL 
