Austin wins on Pink Night in front of largest Bruins crowd ever

Alexandria 3 @ Austin 6 - The Austin Bruins were back at Riverside Arena against the Alexandria Blizzard on The Second Annual Pink Night. The Austin Bruins and The Hormel Institute painted the Rink Pink in the fight against breast cancer.  In the end, the Bruins topped the Blizzard 6-3 in front of a sold-out, standing room only crowd of almost 2,000 fans in Austin.  The crowd was the largest to ever watch a Bruins home game in Austin.  The opening period Austin got off to a quick start as Jeremy Finger was set up by Austin Nelson. The Blizzard tied the game with an opportunity on a rush from Craig Lindegard making it a 1-1 score. John Kirby put the Bruins ahead and scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season.  Assists went to Brandon Wahlin and John Simonson. The Blizzard tied the game 2-2 at the end of the second frame on an unassisted goal from Thomas Williams.  In the second frame, the Bruins regained the lead on the only goal of the period on the power play with a Jon Gehrt goal.  The 3rd period started like the beginning of the game as Jeremy Finger scored his second goal of the night with an assist from Matt Hansen. The Bruins made it 5-2 when Connor Quinn set up Matt Hansen for his third goal of the season. Aiden Cavallini was able to answer back for the Blizzard to make it 5-3, but Colton Kramer put the icing on the cake with an empty net goal as the Bruins skated to a 6-3 victory at Riverside Arena. Boxscore

Bismarck 2 @ Aberdeen 3 – Cory Ward’s power play goal with :21 seconds remaining in the game gave the fans at the sold out Odde Ice Center something to scream about as the Wings edged the division-leading Bobcats, 3-2.  After the teams traded goals in the 1st period, Aberdeen took a 2-1 lead early in the 3rd period with a goal from Paul Prescott.  Bismarck answered with a power play goal from Castan Sommer setting up Ward’s heroics. Donald Olvieri had two points for Bismarck and Shayne McLaughlin scored the other goal for the Wings. Boxscore

Fresno 0 @ Odessa 1 (SO) – Neither netminder Tomas Sholl or Connor Hellebuyck would budge the entire game in front of over 4,000 fans in Odessa as Fresno and the Jackalopes went to the shootout after a rare scoreless tie through regulation and overtime.  In the shootout, Kyle Sucher had the lone goal for Fresno, but Taylor Portner and Mikko Virtanen scored for Odessa to give the Jacks the win.  Hellebuyck made 29 saves for his second shutout win of the season, while Sholl took the loss making 28 saves. Boxscore

New Mexico 4 @ Amarillo 2 – The Amarillo Bulls have only lost twice in regulation at home this season, but both of those have been to the Mustangs including Saturday night as New Mexico doubled up Amarillo, 4-2.  Adam Chapie scored the first two Mustangs goals and Jayson Angus added the eventual game-winner late in the 2nd period.  Amarillo made a late push in the 3rd period with a power play goal from Joe Kozlak, but Tate Rusk sealed the win with an empty-net goal.  Jake Stafford got the win making 30 saves. Boxscore

Janesville 3 @ Port Huron 0 – Jets goaltender Tony Kujava stopped all 26 shots on the way to his league-leading 8th shutout of the season as Janesville salvaged a weekend series split in Port Huron.  After a scoreless 1st period, Janesville scored twice in the 2nd period including goals from Jake Horton (game-winner) and Jordan Bancroft.  Connor McBride added the third insurance goal early in the 3rd period earning the Jets the weekend split.  Max Milosek made 24 saves in the loss for the Fighting Falcons. Boxscore

Springfield 0 @ Chicago 2 – The high powered Jr. Blues offense, which had struck for 10 goals the night before, was shutout by Ryan Coyne and the Chicago Hitmen on Saturday.  Coyne stopped all 51 shots earning his first NAHL win and shutout in the same night.  It was also the first shutout of the season for the Hitmen.  Shigenobu Kakudate’s early 3rd period goal was the difference in the game and David Gandara added an empty-net goal for insurance.  Jr. Blues netminder Tyler Parks was almost as good as Coyne, stopping 42 of 43 Hitmen shots. Boxscore

Fairbanks 2 @ Wenatchee 3 – The Wild jumped out to a 3-0 lead and managed to hang on for a 3-2 win, earning a series split at home with the Ice Dogs.  Things went the Wild’s way early as a 1st period goal from ben Carey and 2nd period markers from Max McHugh and Shawn Pauly gave the Wild a 3-0 lead.  Fairbanks would not go away as Sean O’Rourke and JT Osborn both scored on the power play, but Wild goaltender Greg Lewis held the fort the rest of the way making 21 saves for his 9th win of the season. Boxscore

Kenai River 4 @ Dawson Creek 3 (SO) – If the Brown Bears do make the playoffs they may look back on Saturday night’s improbable 4-3 win over the Rage as the signature moment.  Down 3-1 in the game’s final minute, the Brown Bears got two extra attacker goals :23 seconds apart from Zac Lazzaro and Bobby Murphy to send the game to overtime and a shootout where the Brown Bears eventually claimed victory on Brett Lubanski’s shootout winner.  Dawson Creek led 3-1 thanks to goals from Tyson McCallum, Evan Ripley and Kelyn Opel. Boxscore

Coulee Region 3 @ Minot 4 (OT) – In another dramatic game, the Chill stormed back from a 3-0 deficit and tied the game with just :03 seconds remaining only to see Minot take the OT win on Denis Dalidovich’s game-winner.  Jack McFarlane scored twice and Hunter Bergerson added the other to give the Minotauros a 3-0 lead, but that was answered with three straight goals from the Chill’s Patrick Steinhauser, Tommy Miller and the late heroics from Jake Useldinger to tie the game.  Jake Hebda made 41 saves in the win, the 5th of the season for Minot. Boxscore

Texas 2 @ Wichita Falls 4 – The Wildcats salvaged one game of a three game weekend series with the Tornado by earning a 4-2 win in Wichita Falls on Saturday.  Matt Leon made 35 saves and a late 2nd period goal from Sergei Soloviev proved to be the difference in the win for the Wildcats, who remain nine points out of a playoff spot with 15 games remaining.  Jason Eddy, Renato Engler and George Pagonis also scored for the Wildcasts while Drew Allen and TJ Stuntz scored goals for Texas. Boxscore

Kalamazoo 7 @ Jamestown 3 – Brock Raffaele scored twice and Ken MacLean made 31 saves as the K-Wings came away with two wins in the three game series at Jamestown.  Kalamazoo led 3-0 after two goals from Raffaele and another from Alex Brooks.  Blake Kelley scored twice for the Ironmen, but not before Kalamazoo got more goals from Christian George, Robbie Payne, Anthony Appleyard and Danny Hamburg. Boxscore

Michigan 2 @ St. Louis 3 – Joe Birmingham’s power play goal in the middle of the 3rd period was the difference as St. Louis swept a weekend home series with Michigan, handing the Warriors their 8th straight loss.  The teams traded goals in the 1st period and again in the 2nd period.  Stephen Bopp and Cody Ganchar lit the lamp for St. Louis, while Matus Matis and Travis Hill answered for Michigan.  Spencer Viele made 25 saves in the win for the Bandits, while Brach Tiller made 29 saves in the loss for the Warriors. Boxscore