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Friday Finals: How the Wild West was won

March 30, 2013

Wenatchee 5 @ Fresno 4 (OT) - Blake Butzow scored with 2:05 remaining in overtime Friday to lift the Wenatchee Wild to a 5-4 victory over the Fresno Monsters at the Selland Arena. Coupled with Fairbanks’ 4-3 loss to Kenai River Friday, the win secured the NAHL West Division regular season title for Wenatchee.The Wild checked off the first item on their to-do list thanks to another dramatic come-from-behind victory that was made possible thanks to Butzow’s OT game-winner and a 2-goal third period by Jono Davis.  Wenatchee led 2-0 after the first period Friday on goals by Chris Jones and Evan Schmidbauer. The Monsters owned the second period, managing to claim a 4-2 lead on a 4-goal second period. Chase Sisk scored two of Fresno’s second-period markers while Karl Anderson and Kyle Sucher added one goal apiece.  Davis led the Wild with two goals and an assist while Max McHugh notched a playmaker with three assists. Nick Schmit earned the win. He made stopped all 11 shots he faced in 30 minutes and seven seconds of work. Tomas Sholl suffered the loss. He made 25 saves on 30 shots. Boxscore

Odessa 5 @ Corpus Christi 7 – In front of over 4,600 fans, the Corpus Christi IceRays secured the 4th and final playoff spot in the South with a wild 7-5 win over Odessa.  The IceRays were seemingly in control through two periods as they led 4-1 thanks to two goals from Emil Romig and others from Charles Baldwin and Grant Hutton.  Odessa’s lone goal at the time was from Corey Hoffman.  However, Odessa scored four goals in the 3rd from Trace Jablin, Mike Mezzano, Taylor Portner and Brett Wagner to pull within one, but two goals from Mike Economos and another from Rudy Sulmonte secured the win and berth. Boxscore

Kenai River 4 @ Fairbanks 3 – The Brown Bears kept their hot streak going with a 4-3 win in Fairbanks, in what now is a preview of the upcoming West Division Semi-Finals.  The two teams traded a pair of goals through the first two periods with Ryan Walker scoring both Brown Bears goals, while Devin Loe and Garret Clemment scored for Fairbanks.  The Brown Bears took the lead for good in the 3rd period with goals from Matt Seidel and Zac Lazzaro.  A late Ice Dogs goal from Ethan Somoza wasn’t enough to complete the comeback. Boxscore

Topeka 2 @ Wichita Falls 1 – The RoadRunners dashed the playoff hopes of the Wildcats thanks to a 2-1 win in Wichita Falls on Friday in front of a great crowd of over 5,100 fans at the Kay Yeager Coliseum.  Topeka jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st period thanks to goals from Peter Halash and Tyler Andrew.  It wasn’t until late in the 3rd period that Wichita Falls finally got one past RoadRunners goaltender Spencer Viele with a goal from Kyle Bauman, but that would be all Viele and the RoadRunners would allow. Boxscore

Amarillo 5 @ Texas 1 – The Bulls are in great playoff form judging by their 5-1 win in Texas on Friday night against the Tornado.  Ryan Cole paced the Bulls with a hat-trick, which included scoring the first two goals (including the eventual game-winner) and the final goal of the game. Max Shuart scored the lone goal for the Tornadon, which came in the 2nd period to make it 2-1.  However, Amarillo blew the game open with a three goal 3rd period which included goals from Hampus Gustafsson and Tyler Deresky. Boxscore

Bismarck 8 @ Minot 1 – Bismarck sent their over 1,400 fans home happy as they cruised to an 8-1 win over the Minotauros on Friday night.  After a Matt Pohlkamp goal in thw 1st period made it 1-0. Chris Diver, Seth Blair and Patrick Moore scored in the 2nd period to make it 4-1 for Bismarck. Matt Audette had the lone goal for Minot.  Blair would add a second goal in the 3rd period and Mike Dockry, Levi Blom and Joe Giordano would also score for the Bobcats.  Bismarck outshot Minot 40-12 in the game. Boxscore

Kalamazoo 1 @ Springfield 0 – The Jr. K-Wings held onto hope for the #2 seed and first round bye in the North Division playoffs with a 1-0 win in Springfield on Friday night.  Mac McDonnell scored the lone goal of the game, which came midway through the 1st period with helpers from Christian George and Luc Boby.  The rest of the game was owned by the goalies as Kalamazoo’s Marcus Due-Boje made 36 saves to outduel Matt Leon’s 25 saves in the win. Boxscore

Johnstown 5 @ Jamestown 0 – Chris Truehl stopped all 22 shots that came his way as Johnstown shutout Jamestown on Friday, 5-0.  The win keeps the Tomahawks tied with Port Huron for 4th in the North, while Jamestown fell into a tie for 2nd place with Kalamazoo. Brandon Reinholz and Connor Wright each had a goal and two assists to pace the Johnstown offense.  Cobi Smith-Mass, Mitch Hall and Jordan Watt had the other goals for the Tomahawks.  Boxscore

Michigan 0 @ Port Huron 4 – Alex Blackenburg stopped all 27 shots that came his way as Port Huron rolled to yet another shutout win in a 4-0 blanking of the Michigan Warriors.  The win keeps the Fighting Falcons tied for 4th place in the North with Johnstown heading into the final day.  Easton Powers scored in the 1st period, Jonathan Kopacka and Rick DeRosa added 2nd period goals and Dan Dupell scored in the 3rd period.  Mitch Maloney also chipped in for Port Huron with two assists. Boxscore

Janesville 4 @ Soo 6 – The Eagles scored the last three goals of the game to pull away from Janesville on Friday night.  The Jets can still secure the North’s final playoff spot with a win on Saturday.  At one point, the Jets led 3-1 on goals from Daniel Kucerovy, Conor Lemirande and Zach Avolio.  The Eagles stormed back with two goals from Sean Murphy and others from Denver Pierce, Brandon Adams, Michael Lant and Dante Suffredini.  Jason Ford had the other Jets goal. Boxscore

Aberdeen 1 @ Brookings 3 – The Blizzard scored twice in the second period and again in the 3rd period to erase an early Wings lead on their way to a 3-1 win to cool off Aberdeen.  The Wings took a 1-0 lead in the 1st period on a goal from Jordan Heller.  The Blizzard took the lead for good in the 2nd period with goals from Evan Hesse and Craig Lindegard.  Justin Moody scored an empty-netter in the 3rd period to secure the win.  Blizzard goalie Drew Weigman was solid in the win, making 34 saves. Boxscore

Coulee Region 2 @ Austin 4 – The Bruins got back to their winning ways with a 4-2 win at home over the Chill thanks to two goals and an assist from AJ Reid.  The Bruins went up 2-0 in the 1st period on goals from Reid and Jay Dickman.  Coulee Region cut the lead to 2-1 on Mac Jansen’s 32nd goal of the year.  Reid scored in the 3rd period to make it 3-1, before Hunter Anderson scored to cut the lead down to 3-2.  CJ Smith added an empty-net goal to secure the win.  Josh Bretner also picked up three assists in the Austin win. Boxscore

 
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