St. Louis, Port Huron and Amarillo win on Day 1
St. Louis 3 vs. Fairbanks 1 – St. Louis came out of the lockerroom after the 1st period intermission on fire and it propelled them to a 3-1 win in the opening game of the 2012 Robertson Cup Tournament over the defending Champion, Fairbanks Ice Dogs. Fairbanks had opened the scoring just :35 seconds into the game as Taylor Munson fired a shot past Bandits goalie Spencer Viele, but that would be all for the Fairbanks offense. St. Louis came out hitting and firing on all cylinders in the 2nd period. The Bandits quickly tied the score 2:30 into the 2nd period as Ryan Stouffer beat Ice Dogs goalie Alex Fons to tie the score at 1-1. Just 1:14 later, Joe Birmingham scored the eventual game-winning goal with assists from Joe Kalisz and Rance Hughes to make it 2-1 Bandits. The Bandits continued the pressure and hitting in the 3rd period as Hughes lit the lamp on the power play with helpers from Birmingham and Kalisz to make it 3-1. Viele did the rest as the goaltender finished with 32 saves in the win for St. Louis. Fons made 22 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Port Huron 5 vs. Bismarck 1 – The dream season for the Port Huron Fighting Falcons continued right through the first game of the Robertson Cup as they used efficient scoring and determination to handle the Bismarck Bobcats in Game 1 by a score of 5-1. It didn’t take long for Port Huron to strike first as Kody Polin lit the lamp less than five minutes into the game. Bismarck answered back with their only goal of the game as Bryce Schmitt tied the game at 1-1 heading into the 1st intermission. After that it was all efficient offense and shut down defense from the Fighting Falcons as they limited the Bobcats to just 10 total shots in the final two periods. Max Reavis and Mike Moroso scored in the 2nd period to make it 3-1 and Joe Pizza and Ian Miller added 3rd period goals. Max Milosek had to make just 17 saves in the win, while starting Bobcats goalie Aaron Nelson took the loss and was pulled after the fourth goal to make way for Tommy Burke. Boxscore
Amarillo 3 vs. Texas 2 (OT) - Texas scored the lone goal of the 1st period on a precision 2 on 1 play as Jordan Lovick worked a great passing play with Jackson Leef to convert past a sprawled out Gregg Gruehl to give the hosts the edge. The Bulls outshot Texas 9-7 in the 1st period, but Tornado netminder Hunter Leisner was up to the task. Amarillo came out buzzing in the 2nd period and it didn’t take long for the Bulls to tie the game at 1-1 as Mike Davis jumped on a loose rebound to score the first goal for Amarillo. The Tornado gained the lead back thanks to the power play as Jackson Leef drove the net to have his shot denied by Gruehl, but Taylor Herndon knocked home the loose puck to give the Tornado the 2-1 advantage after two periods. Amarillo would score the only goal of the 3rd period on the power play as Karl Beckman let loose a rocket from the point that beat a screened Leisner to tie the game at 2-2 and send the game to overtime. It did not take long for the game to end in the OT as Tornado turnover at the blueline led to a rush up the right side by Greg Gibson, who sent a shot off a Tornado stick and over the shoulder of Leisner for the game-winner just 3:06 into the extra frame. Boxscore
Watch all the Day 2 games live on FASTHockey
Follow all the Day 2 games on the NAHL scoreboard
