Friday Finals: Titans stay hot as offense explodes in road win
Kenai River goalie Nils Wallstrom stopped 81 of 85 shots in a weekend sweep of Chippewa.
New Jersey 7 @ Johnstown 3 - It’s now a 12-game point streak for the New Jersey Titans as they took care of the Johnstown Tomahawks by a score of 7-3. Levente Keresztes had two goals and two helpers to lead the offense while Marcus Sang also picked up two goals for New Jersey. Sylas Oberting and Michael Young each tallied a goal and an assist. Brady Hildreth had himself a goal and two apples. Anthony Galante had two points for Johnstown while Ryan Vellucci and Drake Albers scored in the loss. Marino Ramirez grabbed the win in between the pipes by making 24 saves. Adam Johnson and Colin Purcell teamed up to make 22 stops for the Tomahawks.
Kenai River 5 @ Chippewa 1 – Brown Bears goalie Nils Wallstrom was a brick wall again as he made 37 saves in a 5-1 win, which completed a weekend road sweep over the Steel. Five different players scored and Ashton Christman had three assists for Kenai River. The Brown Bears opened up a 3-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Ryan Finch, Parker Lockwood, and Hayden Walters. The Steel made it 3-1 early in the 3rd period courtesy of a shorthanded goal from Kade Nielsen, but the Brown Bears answered back with goals later in the 3rd period from Garett Drotts and Casper Conradsson Kelvgaard to make it a 5-1 final. Steel goalie Carter Wishart made 16 saves in the loss.
New Mexico 1 @ Lone Star 4 – William Gramme made 18 saves and Ryan Comishock had three points as the Brahmas beat the Ice Wolves, 4-1. The Brahmas opened up a 4-0 lead through two periods as Comishock scored in the 1st period and Collin Kleiser, Jakub Teply, and Ivan Zadvernyuk scored in the 2nd period. New Mexico scored their lone goal late in the 3rd period off the stick of Tyler Samodral. New Mexico goalie Carsen Stokes made 17 saves in the loss.
Oklahoma 5 @ Odessa 2 – Rylan Brady and Joey Delgreco had two goals and an assist apiece as the Warriors snapped the Jackalopes winning streak thanks to a 5-2 win. Brady opened the scoring just 2:44 into the game. That was matched by a goal from Odessa’s Ryan Kelly to make it 1-1. The Warriors then took a 3-1 lead in the 2nd period with goals from Drew Sutton and another from Brady. In the 3rd period, Odessa closed the gap to 3-2 on a goal from Emerson Goode, but two empty-net goals from Delgreco secured the win. Daniel Duris made 23 saves in the win, while Gergely Orosz made 24 saves in the loss.
Minnesota 3 @ Springfield 1 – Wilderness goalie Isak Posch made 26 saves to lead his team to a 3-1 win in Springfield on Friday. The Wilderness opened the scoring in the 1st period with a goal from Gunnar Thoreson. Springfield tied the game at 1-1 early in the 2nd period with a goal from Cole Lonsdale. The Wilderness would then pull away with power play goals from Michael Quinn and Donovan O’Neil. Jr. Blues goalie Aksel Reid made 28 saves in the loss.
Corpus Christi 1 @ Shreveport 3 – Recently committed Simon Bucheler made 16 saves to lead the Mudbugs to a 3-1 win over the visiting IceRays. Shreveport jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Garrett Steele and Ryan Burke. The IceRays made it 2-1 later in the 1st period with their lone goal from Cameron Crolley. The Mudbugs made it 3-1 in the 2nd period with an insurance goal from Jaden Goldie. IceRays goalie Lukas Malant made 45 saves in the loss.
Aberdeen 3 @ Austin 5 – The Bruins scored three goals in the 3rd period to break a 2-2 tie and beat the Wings, 5-3 to increase their Central Division lead to 10 points. The Bruins opened the scoring with a power play goal from Walter Zacher in the 1st period. The Wings took their first lead later in the period as they got back-to-back goals from Nils Forselius and Logan Gravink. The Bruins tied the game at 2-2 thanks to a power play goal in the 2nd period from Sam Christiano. In the 3rd period, the Bruins seized control with three goals in a 1:36 span as Isaak Brassard, Ocean Wallace, and Austin Salani all scored. Ronan Walsh would add a late power play goal for Aberdeen. Trent Wiemken made 23 saves in the win, while Geno Pichora made 21 saves in the loss.
Northeast 2 @ Danbury 1 (OT) - Paul Minnehan’s second goal of the game proved to be the game winner as the Northeast Generals edged the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks by a score of 2-1. Chase Sandhu got things started for Danbury just 45 seconds into the action. Danbury would hold on to that lead until late in the second when Minnehan struck on the power play. We would need extra time and once again on the power play it was Minnehan delivering again, redirecting a shot of the stick of David Andreychuk. Toby Happ got the win in goal as he made 28 saves. Matt O’Donnel was given the loss as he stopped 35 shots.
Maryland 5 @ Maine 4 (SO) - Kareem El Bashir scored in the 10th round of the shootout as the Maryland Black Bears got past the Maine Nordiques by a score of 5-4. Hunter Ramos and Sean Kilcullen had a goal and an assist for the Black Bears. Luke Van Why and Samuel Stitz also scored for Maryland in the win. Nicholas Bernardo potted a pair of goals for Maine. Kim Hilmersson and Anthony Achille also got on the scoresheet for the Nordiques. William Hakansson got the win in goal as he made 32 saves through 65 minutes of action. Thomas Heaney denied 28 Maryland attempts in the loss.
Anchorage 2 @ Wisconsin 5 - The Wisconsin Windigo won again, this time knocking off the Anchorage Wolverines by a score of 5-2. Cameron Boche and Paul Hugely each had a goal and an assist in the victory. Danill Dolzhenko, Victor Widlund and Chris Kernan all got on the scoresheet as well for the Windigo. Gavin Moffat continued his strong play in goal as he made another 24 saves to pick up the win. Cameron Morris and Aiden Westin each grabbed a goal and an assist for Anchorage. Eino Rissanen stopped 25 shots in the loss for the Wolverines.
Fairbanks 5 @ Janesville 2 - A two goal night from Billy Renfrew helped the Fairbanks Ice Dogs pick up a 5-2 win over the Janesville Jets. Justin Biraben, Jake Cameron and Domenick Evtimov all had a goal and a helper on the night for the Fairbanks offense. Jack Olson turned aside 27 of the 29 shots he faced to grab the win in goal. For the Jets, the offense came from Ethan Begg and Joseph Kramer. Dylan Johnson stopped 23 shots for Janesville in a losing effort.
