Wenatchee and Amarillo to play for National Championship on Monday
Monday’s NAHL Robertson Cup National Championship Game will feature the Wenatchee Wild vs. the Amarillo Bulls at 7:30pm at the Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco. The NAHL has announced that all tickets for the game are just $5 and can be purchased at the door. Neither team has ever won a National title, so it will be the first for either club.
The game can also be viewed live on FASTHockey
Here is a look at Sunday’s action:
Robertson Cup, Game #5
Wenatchee Wild 7 vs. Amarillo Bulls 0
It was all Wenatchee Wild (2-1) in the final game of the NAHL Robertson Cup round-robin as they dominated play from start to finish against the Amarillo Bulls (2-1) in a 7-0 win on Sunday afternoon. With the win the Wild advance as the top seed from round-robin play to the National Championship game on Monday night. Despite the loss, the Bulls also advance to the National Championship game as the #2 seed.
Because Wentachee, Amarillo and Bismarck were all tied after the round-robin with 2-1 records, the tie breaker in the NAHL rules and regulations states that in the case of a three way tie, the tie shall be broken by first determining a #1 team out of the three. Wenatchee was determined to be the #1 team because they had the best goal differential in the games played only against Amarillo and Bismarck. Once that tie was broken, the rules state that head-to-head competition will be used to break the tie between the remaining two clubs, and because Amarillo defeated Bismarck in the round-robin, Amarillo won the second tie-breaker.
The complete rules regarding the tie-breaker can be found here
It didn’t take the Wild long as Trevor Stewart jumped on a loose rebound to put the second shot of the game past Bulls goaltender Paul Berrafato for a 1-0 lead. Two minutes later it was Max McHugh who put a shot past Berrafato, who was looking the other way on the play and McHugh put a shot into the open net off a redirection off the end boards. The third Wenatchee goal came a few minutes later by one of the best goals thus far of the tournament as Wild defenseman Josh Harley went coast-to-coast, eluded three Bulls players in the process, and slipped shot over the glove of Berrafato for a 3-0 lead. Wenatchee wasn’t done in the 1st period as Jono Davis stoled the puck at the Wild blueline and raced in on a breakaway to slip a shot through Colin Delia’s legs, who had replaced Berrafato in the Amarillo goal after the third Wild goal minutes before
It was more Wenatchee pressure in the 2nd period and more special teams magic as Delia misplayed a puck behind the Bulls net right to Noah Nelson, who centered a pass in front for an open Brian Williams who slapped it in the open net for a shorthanded goal and a 5-0 lead. Nelson then made the score 6-0 while on the power play as he walked in uncontested from the left wing to fire a shot off of Delia’s shoulder, which then rolled down his back and into the net.
Joe Sullivan rounded out the scoring in the 3rd period with another Wenatchee power play goal as his shot from the point was redirected past Delia for the seventh and final goal of the game.
Robert Nichols made 18 saves in the win, while Berrafato took the loss making six saves.
Robertson Cup, Game #6
Jamestown Ironmen 3 vs. Bismarck Bobcats 4
The Bismarck Bobcats (2-1) finished the 2013 Robertson Cup with a 4-3 win over the Jamestown Ironmen (0-3) in the final round-robin game on Sunday at the Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco. As detailed earlier, because the Bobcats had to go to the second step of a three way tie-breaker which was determined by their head to head result with the Amarillo Bulls. The Bobcats were unable to advance to Monday’s Championship game because of their 2-1 overtime loss to the Bulls from the night before, which was their lone loss of the tournament.
Bismarck got the scoring started early in the 1st period as less than two minutes in Stanislav Dzakhov scored his third goal of the Robertson Cup as he maneuvered his way through traffic and sent a low backhand shot between the legs of Joe Ballmer for a 1-0 Bobcats lead. That would be all the scoring in the 1st period as the Bobcats outshot Jamestown, 8-5.
It didn’t take long for Jamestown to tie the game at the start of the second period as some a nice effort behind the Bobcats net by Nico Sierra, got the puck to Daniel Cesarz, who lifted a shot over the glove of Aaron Nelson for a power play goal to tie the game at 1-1. Five minutes into the period, Ryan Callahan scored to make it 2-1 and four minutes after that it was Chris Diver scoring to make it 3-1 as he sent a shot through traffic that beat Ballmer. With just seven seconds remaining in the period, as late rush by Matt Anders got the puck to Cory Chapman, who beat Ironmen goalie Blake Wojtala over the glove for a 4-1 Bobcats lead through two periods of play.
The never-say-die Ironmen have it a go in the 3rd period as they scored twice on a goal from Victor Johansson in the early stages in the 1st period and another from Tyler Dunagan with seconds to go, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Bobcats held on for the 4-3 win.
