Friday Finals: Warriors get back on track with win over Soo

Soo 2 @ Michigan 5 – The Warriors scored four unanswered goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods to pick up a 5-2 home win over the 2nd place Soo Eagles.  Martin Gruse had a goal and an assist and Dillon Kelley made 26 saves in the win.  AJ Marcinek, TJ Stuntz, Corey Schuenenman and Darren McCormick also scored for the Warriors.  Nathan Harris and Kyle Froese had goals in the loss for the Soo. Boxscore

Kalamazoo 3 @ Port Huron 2 (SO) – Alex Okicki made 49 saves in regulation and another four in the shootout as the K-Wings defeated the Fighting Falcons in a shootout, 3-1.  Despite a 51-22 shots advantage, the Fighting Falcons could only get two shots past Okicki in regulation, one from Nick Horne, the other from Ian Miller.  Patrick Spellacy and Trevor Boyd scored in regulation for Kalamazoo. Boxscore

Janesville 3 @ Coulee Region 1 – Ruslan Pedan had a goal and two assists as the Jets topped the Chill in Coulee Region by a 3-1 score.  Brock Kautz made 27 saves and had his shutout big spoiled with less than five minutes remaining the game as Zach Doerring scored the lone Coulee Region goal on the power play.  Daniel Kucerovy and Zach Diamantoni had the other goals for the Jets. Boxscore

Texas 7 @ Corpus Christi 2 – The Tornado got three point nights from Jackson Leef and Louie Rowe as they scored early and often in a 7-2 win in Corpus Christi.  Texas led 3-0 early on goals from CJ Reuschlein, Jordan Paine and Rowe.  Emil Romig and Charles Baldwin scored in the 2nd period, but more Tornado goals from Brandon Hawkins, Justin Greenberg, Drew Mayer and another from Reuschlein were plenty. Boxscore

Minot 0 @ Bismarck 3 – Aaron Nelson stopped all 31 shots for his second shutout of the season as Bismarck snapped Minot’s six game losing streak with a 3-0 home shutout of the Minotauros.  Adam Knochenmus scored twice, including the game’s first and eventual game-winning goal.  Mike Dockry had the other for the Bobcats.  Tyler Parks made 28 saves in the loss. Boxscore

Jamestown 0 @ Wenatchee 3 – Robert Nichols had to make just 17 saves for his league-leading 5th shutout of the season as Wenatchee blanked Jamestown in a battle of 1st place teams.  The game was scoreless until the 3rd period when Max McHugh, Tyler Bruneteau and David Powlowski all lit the lamp for the Wild.  Tim Shaughnessy made 36 saves in the losing effort for the Ironmen, who were shutout for the first time all season. Boxscore

Amarillo 3 @ Odessa 1 – The Bulls handed the Jackalopes their 9th straight loss with a 3-1 win on Friday in Odessa.  Paul Berrafato made 29 saves and had his shutout spoiled with less than five minutes remaining with the lone Odessa goal off the stick of Lawrence Cornellier.  Geoff Fortman scored the game’s first goal and had an assist.  TJ Sherman and Mike Davis had the other markers for the Bulls. Boxscore

Topeka 7 @ Springfield 2 – Four, 3rd period goals broke the game wide open as the RoadRunners beat the Jr. Blues in Springfield on Friday, 7-2.  Jerad Tafoya scored twice, as the RoadRunners had leads of 2-0 and 3-1.  The Jr. Blues got goals from Parker Johnson and Ryan Atkinson, but that would be all as Topeka’s other goals came from Tyler Poulsen, Luke Veitch, Kyle Sharkey, Jake Kamrass and Codey Hansen. Boxscore

Aberdeen 0 @ Brookings 2 – After suffering losses in his last four starts, Blizzard goaltender Drew Weigman stopped all 30 shots for his second shutout of the season as Brookings blanked Aberdeen, 2-0.  Both goalies kept goals off the scoreboard until the 3rd period when the Blizzard’s Eric Brenk and Nikita Sokolov scored goals. Wings goalie Marcus Zelzer made 38 saves in the loss. Boxscore

Johnstown 6 @ Fresno 1 – Five different players had multi-point nights, including Andrew McDonald, who had a goal and two assists against his former team as the Tomahawks picked up a 6-1 win in Fresno.  Johnstown scored the first three goals of the game from McDonald, JB Baker and Cody Gylling.  Ian Spencer, Cody Bentzel and Jeff Bergh added 3rd period goals.  Matt Salituro scored the lone goal for Fresno. Boxscore