Last weekend the Potomac Patriots headed south to face off against a familiar Southeast divisional opponent, the Atlanta Jr Kings. The two teams played in Potomac on the opening weekend of the 2018-19 season. In those contests, the Patriots took the first game and the Kings won a dramatic overtime game on Sunday.

The Patriots got off to a strong start in the first game, tallying two goals in the first period. Martynas Miliunas (Vievis, Lithuania) got the scoring started with his first goal of the year on a rebound early in the period. Kalen Guimond (Fort Alexander, Manitoba) added his first of the year later on in the period to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead off a backdoor feed from James Jones (Burke, Virginia). That was all the scoring the game would see, as goalie Elvinas Karla (Zarasai, Lithuania) turned away 55 shots throughout the contest to lead the Patriots to a shutout victory. The was Karla’s first shutout as a member of the Potomac Patriots.

Sunday’s game saw the Kings control the play early and take a 1-0 lead just under five minutes into the opening frame. The Patriots responded late in the first period to tie the game 1-1 on a shot off the rush from Yevhenii Zyk (Kiev, Ukraine). The second period was extremely fast paced, with plenty of chances and odd man rushes for both teams. Elvinas Karla rose to the occasion again and was able to keep the game tied before Georg Landro (Riverside, California) cashed in on a breakaway late in the period. The tally from Landro to make it 2-1 would be enough, as neither team was able to find the back of the net during the third period.

The weekend sweep for the Potomac Patriots Premier brought the team’s win streak to three as they head into the USPHL-Chicago showcase next weekend. In Chicago the Patriots will face off against the Hudson Havoc, Rum River Mallards, Toledo Cherokee and Chicago Cougars.