Friday Finals: Bruins win Central battle over Bismarck
Bismarck 2 @ Austin 4 – The Bruins fired 49 shots on goals and got two late 3rd period goals, both from Jacob Kullberg in a 4-2 win over the Bobcats. Things were knotted up at 2-2 after two periods as Jake Arroyo and Trevor Boyd scored for the Bruins and Matt Perry answered twice for the Bobcats. Then came Kullberg’s heroics in the 3rd period. Austin was also helped by a three-assist night from Alex Pettersson. Zach Driscoll made 19 saves in the win, while Alex Bitsakis took the loss making 45 saves. Boxscore
Odessa 2 @ Lone Star 5 – In a spirited game, Sebastian Vidmar was once again the star as the Swedish forward had a hat-trick in a 5-2 win. Cody Wickline scored in the 1st period and Mark Bowen scored in the 3rd period for the other Brahmas goals, but Vidmar scored in each of the three periods. Nicholas Carbone and Andrew McLean had the Jackalopes goals. Johan Steen had a pair of assists and TJ Black made 23 saves. Boxscore
MN Wilderness 6 @ Kenai River 2 – Niklas Lehtimaki had a four-point night as the Wilderness won on the road in Kenai, 6-2. The Wilderness jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st period on goals from Lehtimaki, Michael Covach and Billy Exell. Brett Heikkila and Tyler Cline added the other Wilderness goals. Jack Gessert and Joseph Kaszupski had the goals for the Brown Bears. Wilderness goalie Brock Kautz made 24 saves in the win. Boxscore
Fairbanks 4 @ Wenatchee 1 – Three, 2nd period goals and 40 saves from Patrick Munson helped the Ice Dogs to a 4-1 win in Wenatchee for their 4th straight win. After a scoreless 1st period, Ethan Somoza, Jacob Hetz and Chandler Madry scored in the 2nd period for Fairbanks. David Powlowski scored the lone goal for the Wild in the 3rd period, which was answered by a goal from Ryner Gorowsky to make it a 4-1 final. Boxscore
Brookings 4 @ Minot 1 – Eric Hancock made 22 saves as the Blizzard picked up a bog road win in Minot thanks to a big 2nd period. Pat Flynn got the scoring going in the 1st period for Brookings, which was followed by three, 2nd period goals from Bo Gronseth, Connor Hutchins and Zach Glienke. Glienke end up with three points on the night. Blake Lizotte scored the lone Minot goal, which came with just two minutes to go in the 3rd period. Boxscore
Topeka 5 @ Rio Grande Valley 4 (SO) – It took 16 combined shooters, but the RoadRunners fought off a comeback attempt from the Killer Bees to win, 5-4. Topeka led 4-1 after two periods on goals from Daniel Brickley, Sly Sutter, Mike Gornall and Yu Hikosaka. Kyle Stephan had the lone Rio Grande Valley goal. The Killer Bees stormed back in the 3rd period with three goals from JB Baker, Stathis Soumelidis and Dylan Robertson. Brickley ended up with the shootout winner. Boxscore
Aberdeen 1 @ MN Magicians 4 – Chris Amsden made 24 saves as the Magicians picked up a 4-1 home win over the Wings. An early goal from Austin Swingle gave the Wings a lead, but the Magicians responded with two goals from Lukas Laub and Kelly O’Brien to take a 2-1 lead in the 1st period. Matt Colford and Tony Uglem added goals in the 3rd period for a 4-1 final. Kane Durment had a pair of assists for Minnesota. Boxscore
Corpus Christi 4 @ Amarillo 5 (SO) – The Bulls came from two goals down in the 3rd period to draw even and ultimately beat the IceRays in a shootout, 5-4. Things were looking good for the IceRays after two periods as Wes Michaud scored twice and Tanner Lomsnes and Logan Gestro also scored. The Bulls were down just 4-2 thanks to goals from Will Harrison and Kasper Emanuelsson. In the 3rd period Brady Crabtree and Rusian Rakhmatov scored to draw the Bulls even, then Crabtree added the lone shootout goal. Boxscore
Janesville 5 @ Coulee Region 2 – The Jets flew by a Chill lead with four, 3rd period goals on their way to a 5-2 win in La Crosee. Things were looking good for the Chill after two periods as Dominik Florian and Garrett Riebling scored to put the Chill up 2-1 after 40 minutes. Ian Janco had the lone Jets goal. However, in the 3rd period, goals from Zach Yoder, Cullen Munson, Drew Callin and Mitch Fossier gave the Jets the 5-2 win. Boxscore
Soo 4 @ Michigan 3 – The Eagles came from behind to defeat the Warriors, 4-3 on Friday. After a wild 1st period, Michigan led 3-2 on the heels of goals from AJ Marcinek, Mitch Wedding and Tyler Groat. Chase Matson and Sandis Zolmanis had the Eagles goals, both of which were scored shorthanded. In the 2nd period, a goal from Keegan Miller tied the game at 3-3 and a goal from Dan Weaver in the 3rd period gave the Eagles the 4-3 edge. Boxscore
