Friday Finals: Ice Miners stay hot with road win
Keystone 5 @ Michigan 3 – Keystone is now 9-1-1 in their last 11 thanks to a 5-3 win on Friday in Flint. Two goals from Taylor Fernandez in the 3rd period broke a 3-3 tie and were the difference in the Keystone win. Michigan led 3-1 early in the 2nd period on goals from Tyler Groat, Garrison Sanipass and Ryan Sete. Cameron Smith started the comeback as he scored his second goal of the game after scoring in the 1st period with a 2nd period tally to make it 3-2. Before the period was over, Noah Batis scored on the power play to knot the game at 3-3, setting up Fernandez’s heroics in the 3rd period. Boxscore
Janesville 6 @ Soo 1 – The Jets stayed got thanks to a four-goal 2nd period and a 6-1 road win in the Soo on Friday night. Janesville jumped ahead 2-1 in the 1st period with goals from Zach Lavalle and Kevin Dineen, who scored his first goal in a Jets uniform. Brad Pung had the lone goal for the Eagles. In the 2nd period, the Jets scored for times, including two goals from Brandon Schultz and others from Adam Winborg and Cullen Munson. Matt Jurusik made 25 saves in the win and Adam Roeder and Zach Yoder had two assists apiece. Boxscore
Rio Grande Valley 6 @ Amarillo 2 – The Killer Bees gave their playoff hopes a shot in the arm with a 6-2 road win in Amarillo and moved back into the 6th and final playoff spot in the South ahead of the Bulls. After a scoreless 1st period, the Killer Bees dominated the 2nd period as goals from Chris Deprez, Stathis Soumelidis and Kevin Clare put Rio Grande Valley ahead 3-0. The lead swelled to 5-0 as Andrew Scofield and Austin Wisely scored. It was Wisely’s first career NAHL goal. After goals from Tristan Rostagno and Brady Crabtree made it 5-2, Anthony Croston added an insurance goal to make the final 6-2. Nick Schmit made 26 saves in the win. Boxscore
Corpus Christi 7 @ Odessa 3 – The IceRays for a hat-trick from Maskim Dzhioshvili and scored five times in a 10-minute span in the 3rd period to pick up a 7-3 road win in Odessa on Friday. The Jackalopes had a 3-2 lead early in the 3rd period thanks to goals from Hampus Sjodahl, Andreas Soje and Lane Valimont, but the IceRays hung around with goals from Tanner Lomsnes and Dzhioshvili. With just under 15 minutes remaining in the 3rd period, the Ice Rays would start their five-goal flurry including two more goals from Dzhioshvili and others from Joe Chitwood, Connor Kelly and Ryan Cusin, who all scored power play goals. Luke Pickar would pick up the win in goal, making 33 saves. Boxscore
MN Magicians 3 @ Austin 4 (OT) – Tony Uglem scored just over halfway through overtime to sting his former team as the Bruins came away with a 4-3 win at home over the Magicians on Friday night. The teams traded goals throughout the game, and although the Magicians never led, they kept answering goals from Austin. Jade Miller scored twice for the Bruins and Trevor Boyd added the other goal in regulation. The Magicians got a 2nd period goal from Nolan Schaeffer and 3rd period goals from Brady Heppner and Connor Bucsis. Uglem, who has 13 points in 16 games with the Bruins, played all of last season and the first 22 games of this season for the Magicians. Boxscore
Johnstown 6 @ Springfield 5 (OT) – Despite a valiant comeback in the 3rd period, the Jr. Blues could not find the extra point as Casey Linkenheld scored early in overtime to give Johnstown their second win of the series in Springfield on Friday. Johnstown jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Zach Zech, Steven Quagliata and Joe Drabin. The Jr. Blues would start their comeback later in the 2nd period with goals from Joey Lupo and Anthony Scarsella. Johnstown opened up a 5-3 lead in the 3rd period with goals from Zac Robbins and Luke Lynch, but the Jr. Blues fought back to tie the game at 5-5 on goals from TJ Friedmann, Brian Rigiali and Michael Crowley, who netted the equalizer with less than five seconds remaining in regulation. Jake Gwillim picked up the OT win in goal, making 45 saves. Boxscore
Aberdeen 1 @ Bismarck 4 – Hunter Shepard made 18 saves and JM Piotrowski scored twice as the Bobcats came away with a 4-1 home win over the Wings on Friday. After a scoreless 1st period, it would not take long for the Bobcats to get on the board in the 2nd period as just a minute in Piotrowski would score to put Bismarck ahead 1-0. Aberdeen would answer less than two minutes later on their lone goal from Bjorn Sigurdarson, but before the period was out Tony German would score the eventual game-winner. Two more strikes from Piotrowski and Jared Pike would secure the win. Both Pike and Jared Turcotte (3 assists) would end up with three-point games. Boxscore
Minot 3 @ Brookings 4 (OT) – The Blizzard stayed hot and moved into a tie for the final playoff spot in the Central Division with an overtime win over division-leading Minot on Friday as Beau Michaud netted the game-winner 1:32 into overtime. Each team would score a goal in each period, keeping things very even throughout the game. Minot got goals from Nick Monfils in the 1st period, Jacob Dittel in the 2nd period and Chase Springman in the 3rd period, while Brookings got goals from Zed Dietrich in the 1st period, Viktor Lindell in the 2nd period and TJ Samec in the 3rd period. Eric Hancock made 22 saves in the win. Boxscore
Wichita Falls 3 @ Lone Star 6 – Ludvig Larsson had a hat-trick as the Brahmas erased an early deficit on their way to a 6-3 win over the Wildcats to increase their lead for 2nd place in the South Division. The Wildcats jumped ahead 2-0 in the 1st period on goals from Jake Townsend and Matt Koch, but Lone Star responded with four straight goals, including two from Larsson and others from Alex Carle and Johan Steen. Nick Farmer scored early in the 3rd period to draw Wichita Falls to within 4-3, but two more goals late in the 3rd period from Larsson and Pat Egan secured the win for Lone Star, who got 32 saves from TJ Black in the win. Boxscore
Wenatchee 5 @ Kenai River 1 – Colin Burtson scored twice and Brendan Harris and Jake Ahlgren each had three point games as the Wild won another game over the Brown Bears with a 5-1 win on Friday. Wenatchee has outscored Kenai River 11-1 in the first two games of the series. The Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Harris and Troy Conzo. After a goal from Kenai River forward Jack Gessert made it 2-1, the Wild scored three more times including two from Burtson and one from Ahlgren. Michael Bullion made 19 saves in the win as Wenatchee outshot Kenai River 42-20 in the game. Boxscore
Coulee Region 3 @ Fairbanks 2 – Despite being outshot 50-14, the Coulee Region Chill rode the hot goaltending of Adam Carlson to a 3-2 win on Friday, evening the weekend series with the Ice Dogs. Fairbanks jumped ahead in the 1st period as Johnny Mueller scored a power play goal, but the Chill would answer back with two goals before the period was out with strikes from Aussie Miller and Dominik Florian. The eventual game-winning goal was scored in the 2nd period on a power play goal from Dawson DiPietro, which put the Chill ahead 3-2. Jesper Ohrvall scored his 9th goal in his last four games to draw the Ice Dogs to within one in the 3rd period, but Carlson would shut the door the rest of the way, making 48 saves. Boxscore
