Saturday Scores: Wildcats, Brahmas and IceRays rising in South
Saturday Stars: Aaron Miller (top) helped the Minnesota Wilderness to a sweep of Austin and Jake Kupsky (bottom) helped the Lone Star Brahmas to their 9th straight win.
Amarillo 1 @ Lone Star 3 – it took until the 3rd period for anyone to score, but the Brahmas got 17 saves from Jake Kupsky and outlasted the Bulls 3-1 to complete a weekend home sweep. The win was Lone Star’s 9th in a row. Lone Star took a 2-0 lead early in the 3rd period on power play goals from Sebastian Vidmar and Liam Stirtzinger. Amarillo responded with their lone goal from Joey DiBenedetto late in the 3rd period, but an empty-net goal from AJ Vanderbeck secured the 3-1 win. Jacob Weatherly made 24 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Austin 2 @ MN Wilderness 4 – Aaron Miller scored and had a three-point night as the Minnesota Wilderness completed a weekend home sweep of the Austin Bruins thanks to a 4-2 win on Saturday. Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Billy Exell, Niklas Lehtimaki and Jack Forbort scored. The Bruins responded with two goals to cut the lead to 3-2 as Ian Scheid scored shorthanded and Brian Bachnak added a late 2nd period goal. Miller’s goal came in the 3rd period and secured the 4-2 win for the Wilderness. Brock Kautz picked up the win, making 20 saves. Boxscore
Odessa 3 @ Corpus Christi 4 (OT) – Andrew Lindgren made 36 saves and Wes Michaud scored in overtime on a penalty shot to give the IceRays a 4-3 win and a weekend home sweep of the Jackalopes. Things were looking good for the IceRays early as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead with 1st period goals from Ryan Cusin, Connor Bucsis and Anthony Cortese. Odessa would respond to get the game tied with a 2nd period goal from Alex Alger and two 3rd period tallies from Chad Guderian and Kenny Hausinger. Boxscore
Wenatchee 4 @ Kenai River 0 – Former Brown Bears goalie Zach Quinn made 25 saves against his old team for his first shutout of the season as the Wild completed a weekend road sweep of Kenai River with a 4-0 win on Saturday. The Wild outshot the Brown Bears, 40-25. David Powlowski and Shane Cuckovich scored in the 1st period to put the Wild ahead 2-0. Colin Burtson and Mike Coyne added 2nd period goals to complete the scoring. Josh Creelman made 36 saves in the loss for the Brown Bears. Boxscore
MN Magicians 2 @ Fairbanks 4 – Two late 3rd period goals were the difference as Fairbanks beat the Magicians on Saturday, 4-2 to complete a weekend sweep. After a scoreless 1st period, the Ice Dogs took a 2-0 lead on goals from Jacob Hetz and Lonnie Clary. The Magicians would respond with goals from Marc Michaelis and Thomas Delaney to tie the game at 2-2. However, the Ice Dogs would surge ahead thanks to a power play goal from Chandler Madry midway through the 3rd period and another from Hetz late in the period to secure the win. Patrick Munson made 26 saves in the while, while Chris Amsden made 39 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Rio Grande Valley 2 @ Wichita Falls 4 – The Wildcats won their 7th straight game and moved to within four points of 1st place in the South thanks to a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Rio Grande Valley on Saturday, which completed a weekend sweep. Things looked good for the Killer Bees after two periods as goals from Stathis Soumelidis and Zach Bennett put them ahead 2-1. Evan Okeley had the lone tally for the Wildcats. However, Wichita Falls would respond with three goals in the 3rd period from Jake Townsend, Shane Kuzmeski and Nick Farmer. David Zevnik made 22 saves in the win. Boxscore
Keystone 3 @ Janesville 0 – Nick Kossoff stopped all 28 shots that came his way for his second shutout of the season as the Ice Miners picked up their first win against the Jets this season thanks to a 3-0 win in Janesville on Saturday, which salvaged a weekend split. Jon Hall and Lucas Little scored in the 2nd period to put Keystone ahead 2-0 and Niko Coffman added a 3rd period goal to complete the scoring. Matt Jurusik made 16 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Springfield 3 @ Topeka 2 – In front of over 3,700 fans in Topeka, the Jr. Blues came back from a three-goal deficit in the 3rd period and scored the game-winner from Tyler Funk with three seconds remaining in regulation to pull out a 3-2 win and salvage a weekend split. Things were looking good for the ‘Runners after a pair of power play goals from Daniel Brickley and Daniel Rzavsky in the 2nd period put them ahead 2-0. Springfield fought back in the 3rd period with goals from Brady Tomlak, Brian Rigali and Funk, who’s goal slipped under the pad of Matej Tomek on a scrum in front of the net. Dryden McKay made 25 saves in the win, while Tomek made 18 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Bismarck 5 @ Minot 4 (SO) – A wild 3rd period and a 16-man shootout was the highlight of Bismarck’s 5-4 shootout win on Saturday in Minot, which split the weekend home-and-home series between the two clubs. Minot led 2-1 after two periods as Casey Johnson and Chase Springman scored for Bismarck and Harrison Aide scored for Minot. Bismarck took a 4-2 lead in the 3rd period thanks to three straight goals form Tanner Salsberry, Anthony Song and Matt Perry. Minot responded with two goals to tie the game as Johnny Walker scored and Springman added his second of the night. In the shootout, Logan Rivard netted the winner as Bismarck’s 8th shooter. Boxscore
Coulee Region 1 @ Michigan 3 – Another weekend, another split between the Chill and the Warriors thanks to Michigan’s 3-1 win on Saturday. The score was even at 1-1 after the 1st period with each team netting a power play goal as Charlie Parker scored for Coulee Region and Garrison Sanipass answered for Michigan. Michigan took a 2-1 lead with a goal in the 2nd period from Cody Kuster and added a 3rd period goal from Seth Adams. Ryan Wischow made 29 saves in the win, while Adam Carlson made 33 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Brookings 4 @ Aberdeen 5 (SO) – Aberdeen forward Bjorn Sigurdarson had two goals in regulation and the shootout winner as the Wings salvaged a home-and-home split with the Blizzard thanks to a 5-4 shootout win. Austin Swingle and Michael Soucier scored the other goals for the Wings, with Soucier’s coming with less than a minute remaining in regulation to tie the game. Brookings goal two goals from Joe Anderson and others from Eddie Eades and Connor Hutchins. Chad Catt made 24 saves in the win, while Ryan Kubic made 34 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Johnstown 3 @ Soo 2 – Ryan Bednard made 37 saves to lead the Tomahawks to a 3-2 win on the road against the Soo Eagles in the first of a two-game set. The other star of the night was Joe Drabin for the Tomahawks, who had two goals, including the game-winner, which came with :40 seconds remaining in the 3rd period. Drabin set up the other Tomahawks goal, which came in the 1st period on a power play goal from Dakoda Menslage. The Eagles got their goals from Denver Pierce and Mitch Vanderburg. Sean Keating made 25 saves in the loss. Boxscore
