Saturday Scores: Blizzard blank Bobcats to move into 2nd place tie

Brookings 1 @ Bismarck 0 – Blizzard goaltender Drew Weigman stopped all 24 shots that came his way for his 3rd shutout of the season as the Blizzard posted a 1-0 shutout win in Bismarck on Saturday night.  The lone goal of the game came in the 2nd period off the stick of Joe Anderson, who scored a power play goal with assists to Justin Moody and Conor Andrle.  Bobcats goalteder Aaron Nelson played well in the loss making 30 saves. The win moved Brookings into a 2nd place tie in the Central Division. Boxscore

Kalamazoo 5 @ Soo 6 – It was a tale of two hat-tricks as Brandon Adams for the Soo and Robbie Payne for Kalamazoo each had a hat-trick, but in the end it was Adams and the Eagles who scored four of the last five goals to win, 6-5.  At one point, Kalamazoo had a 4-1 lead.  Luc Boby and Patrick Spellacy had the other goals for the K-Wings.  Besides Adams hat-trick, Soo got goals from Alex Taulien, Michael Crowley and Eric Rivard.  Soo had three goals in the 3rd period and Adams game-winner came with under three minutes left in regulation. Boxscore

Jamestown 2 @ Janesville 0 – In his Ironmen debut since being traded from Odessa, goalie Blake Wojtala stopped all 22 shots that came his way as the Ironmen completed a weekend road sweep of the Jets with a 2-0 shutout win.  Victor Johansson scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 1st period and Nico Sierra added a 2nd period goal for insurance as Wojtala did the rest.  Jets goaltender Brock Kautz made 23 saves in the loss. Boxscore

Springfield 4 @ Port Huron 3 – Micah Ranum’s goal early in the 3rd period proved to be the difference as the Jr. Blues picked up a big weekend road sweep against the Fighting Falcons.  The Jr. Blues are now just two points out of the sixth and final playoff spot in the North, which is held by Port Huron.  Port Huron led 3-1 late in the 2nd period with goals from Dunk Abbott, Easton Powers and Rick DeRosa.  However, Springfield came back with goals from Ryan Atkinson, Jack Sloan, Terry Leabo and Ranum. Boxscore

Johnstown 1 @ Michigan 2 (SO) – The suddenly surging Warriors won their fourth straight game as they got 29 saves from Trevor Gorsuch and three of four shooters scoring in the shootout to edge the Tomahawks, 2-1.  Both goals in regulation came in the 2nd period as Andrew McDonald scored for Johnstown and Jake Hopfner scored for the Warriors.  In the shootout, Michigan first three shooters, Zack Szajner, Corey Schuenenman and AJ Marcinek scored for the Warriors. Boxscore

Amarillo 1 @ Texas 3 – The Tornado completed a weekend sweep of the Bulls thanks to two goals from Justin Greenberg and 22 saves from Hunter Leisner.  Greenberg gave the Tornado a 1-0 lead with a 1st period power play goal.  Texas made it 2-0 on Brandon Hawkins league-leading 29th goal of the season, followed by Greenberg’s second of the game to make it 3-0.  Mike Davis scored the lone Bulls goal to make it 3-1.  Texas outshot Amarillo, 40-23. Boxscore

Odessa 4 @ Corpus Christi 5 – Like the night before, the IceRays jumped out a big lead and then survived a late surge from Odessa to complete the weekend home sweep over the Jacks.  Beau Walker had the big night for the IceRays as he recorded the game-winning goal and added four assists for a five-point night.  AJ Jarosz, Caleb O’Brein, Mike Economos and Wayland Williams also scored for Corpus Christi.  Lawrence Cornellier, Jimmy Peplinski, Anthony Olguin and Matt Volonnino scored for Odessa. Boxscore

Topeka 2 @ Wichita Falls 5 – Conor O’Neil had a hat-trick, scoring in all three periods as the Wildcats salvaged a weekend home split against the RoadRunners with a 5-2 win on Saturday.  O’Neil and Sami Salminen scored in the 1st period to give the Wildcats an early 2-1 lead.  Eliot Grauer added the third goal for the Wildcats in the 2nd period before O’Neil scored the last two.  Sean Gaffney and Michal Pastor had the Topeka goals. Boxscore

Minot 3 @ Austin 4 (SO) – Each team came away with three points in the series as the Bruins got a late 3rd period goal from Easton Viitala, then won in a shootout on goals from Jay Dickman and Brandon Wahlin in a 4-3 win.  Chris Fischer and CJ Smith had the other goals for the Bruins, while Steven Sherman scored twice and Denis Dalidovich added the other goals for the Minotauros.  Jason Pawloski made 33 saves in the win and stopped all four Minotauros shooters in the shootout. Boxscore

Coulee Region 6 @ Aberdeen 3 – The Chill got interim head coach AJ Degenhardt his first win as six different players scored in a 6-3 win over the Wings.  The Chill jumped out to a 4-0 lead with goals from Cory Lushanko, Adam Lovick, Matt Williams and Jesse Tredinnick.  Garrett Hendrickson and Mac Jansen added 3rd period goals.  The Wings got goals from Jonathan Grebosky, Patrick Steinhauser and Peter Krieger.  Blake Cates made 42 saves in the win. Boxscore

Fairbanks 3 @ Wenatchee 2 (SO) – Goaltender Kevin Aldridge made 38 saves and stopped four of five shooters in the shootout as the Ice Dogs took the second of a three-game set in Wenatchee with a 3-2 shootout win.  Chris Jones and Jacob Barber scored to give the Wild a 2-0 lead midway through the game, but Fairbanks responded with a late goal in the 2nd period from Devin Loe and a goal early in the 3rd period from Garret Clemment.  Clemment then had the shootout winner. Boxscore

Kenai River 2 @ Fresno 3 – Fresno got 31 saves from goaltender Tomas Sholl as they took the second game of a three game set with Kenai River in a 3-2 win.  Matt Seidel scored to give the Brown Bears a 1-0 lead early in the 1st period, but that was answered by three straight Fresno goals from Sean Kalbak, Newton Fuller and Mitchell Snyder.  Chris Nuth scored last in the 3rd period to draw the Brown Bears to within a goal, but the Monsters would hold on for the win. Boxscore