Saturday Scores: Last of the unbeaten fall
Wenatchee Wild 2 @ Bismarck Bobcats 5 – It was the Stanislav Dzakhov show, as the forward from Russia recorded a hat-trick to pace the Bobcats to a 5-2 win and a home weekend sweep of the Wenatchee Wild. Evan Giesler and Dzakhov scored in the 1st period to give Bismarck and 2-0 lead. Parker Tuomie did his best to help the Wild, scoring both goals, but it was too much Dzakhov and Bismarck and the rest of the way as Dzakhov scored in each period and Filip Starzynski added a goal. Boxscore
Brookings Blizzard 1 @ Aberdeen Wings 5 – On the strength of three power play goals in the 2nd period, the Wings completed a weekend home-and-home sweep of the Blizzard at the Wings home opener in front of a crowd of over 1,500 fans. The Wings jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Austin Swingle, Jake Horton and TJ Roo. After Evan Hesse responded for Brookings, Erik Baskin scored the final two goals of the night for the Wings. Chad Catt made 36 saves in the win. Austin Priebe made 39 saves in the loss in his Brookings debut. Boxscore
Fairbanks Ice Dogs 2 @ Minnesota Wilderness 5 – The Wilderness earned a weekend home split and handed the Ice Dogs their first loss of the season as Minnesota got two goals from Billy Exell in a 5-2 win. After goals in the 1st period from Ice Dogs forward Tayler Munson and Wilderness forward Johno May, Minnesota broke the game open in the 2nd period with three goals from Exell, Richard Buri and Terry Leabo. Exell added his second goal of the game late in the 3rd period just :11 seconds after Jacob Hetz drew the score to within 4-2. Boxscore
Coulee Region Chill 4 @ Janesville Jets 1 – For the second straight night, the Chill downed the Jets by a 4-1 score, completing a weekend road sweep. Although the shots were even at 30-30, Chill goaltender Adam Carlson stood out amongst the rest, making 29 saves. The Chill got off to another strong start with two goals in the 1st period from James McGing and Richard Zehnal. Justin Holliday scored in the 2nd period to make it 3-0. Janesville got their only goal of the game early in the 3rd period from Adam Winborg, but a late shorthanded goal from Eddie Matsushima put the game away. Boxscore
Austin Bruins 2 @ Minot Minotauros 4 – The last of the unbeatens fell in Minot on Saturday as the Minotauros earned a weekend home split by beating the Bruins, 4-2. It was a quiet night for the Bruins offense as they managed just 20 shots on goal. The Bruins scored first on a goal from Luke Dietsch, but it was almost all Minot after that as Jon Lizotte and Jadin Martin answered to make it 2-1 at the 1st intermission. Sam Kauppila tied the game at 2-2 early in the 2nd period, but a late goal in the middle frame from Scott Dornbrock and an empty-net goal from Jake McCann was the difference. Boxscore
Johnstown Tomahawks 3 @ Soo Eagles 2 (SO) – It took 14 shooters to finally break the deadlock, but Johnstown’s Zach Wallace scored the lone goal of the shootout to give the Tomahawks a 3-2 shootout win in the Soo. The Eagles looked good early, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st period on goals from Brad Mueller and Mike Sabatini. Johnstown responded with a goal in the 2nd period from Omar Mullan, his first in a Tomahawks uniform and a 3rd period goal with less than five minutes remaining from Shane Bednard. Alex Okicki made 26 saves in regulation and OT and then stopped all seven Soo shooters. Boxscore
Kenai River Brown Bears 2 @ Minnesota Magicians 3 – It was a successful NAHL home debut for the Magicians as they got 39 saves from Atte Tolvanen in a 3-2 win. The Magicians led 1-0 late in the 1st period, thanks to a goal from Colin Hernon. The Brown Bears tied the game early in the 2nd period on a goal from Conor Deal, but that was answered by Minnesota’s Will Johnson to make it 2-1 after two periods. After Alec Butcher had tied the game with a power play goal midway through the 3rd period, the drama was high late in the game as Kyle Krueger scored the eventual game-winning goal on a penalty shot with just five minutes remaining in regulation. Boxscore
Michigan Warriors 2 @ Port Huron Fighting Falcons 4 – Port Huron jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never lost the lead as they earned a weekend split in a home-and-home series with the Warriors. Joey Lindberg gave the Fighting Falcons a 1-0 lead with a power play goal in the 1st period. Mitch Maloney made 2-0 in the 2nd period before Michigan answered on a goal from John Nugent. John Hall and Alex Archibald scored 3rd period goals to trump a goal from Michigan’s Jake Hopfner to make the final 4-2. Boxscore
Wichita Falls Wildcats 3 @ Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 2 – In front of almost 2,400 fans, the Wildcats spoiled the NAHL home opener of the Killer Bees with a close 3-2 win. All the scoring was done in the first two periods. Rio gave the crowd something to cheer for early as Evan Schmidbauer scored just 1:32 into the game. That was answered twice in the next seven minutes by Wildcats goals from Jordan Jancze and Nick Farmer. Will Clark tied the game at 2-2 late in the 2nd period only to see Jancze score his second of the game right before intermission, which would stand as the game-winning goal as neither team was able to find the back of the net in the 3rd period. Boxscore
Lone Star Brahmas 2 @ Corpus Christi IceRays 4 – 47 shots on goal was too much for the Brahmas to overcome, as they were swept on the road by the IceRays by a score of 4-2 in front of almost 2,500 fans in Corpus Christi. Lone Star scored first on a goal from Paul Fregeau, but Eric Purcell and Grant Hutton answered on the power play to make it 2-1 after two periods. Corpus Christi added two more goals in the 3rd period from Tony Roisum and Martin Hojbjerg to put the game on ice. Todd Koritzinsky added the other Brahmas goal. Boxscore
Springfield Jr. Blues 4 @ Topeka RoadRunners 3 (SO) – It was déjà vu again for Springfield and Topeka as the Jr. Blues pulled out the weekend sweep with another identical 4-3 shootout win on Saturday. Jr. Blues goalie Stefanos Lekkas made 29 saves and stopped seven of eight shooters in the shootout. James Ring got the 2,600+ fans excited in the 1st period with the first Topeka goal, but that was answered by two Jr. Blues goals in the 2nd period from Michael Mylchreest and Davis Dekorte. Dekorte scored again in the 3rd period to answer goals from the RoadRunners Cash Seraphim and Michal Uhrik. Mike Gambino had the shootout winner for Springfield. Boxscore
Odessa Jackalopes 0 @ Amarillo Bulls 4 – Amarillo netminder Paul Berrafato was back to his form from a year ago, as he stopped all 19 shots that came his way as the Bulls completed a weekend home sweep of the Jackalopes with a 4-0 shutout in front of over 3,100 fans in Amarillo. Eric Hancock made 42 saves in the Jacks loss. After a scoreless 1st period, Ben Jentsch and Mike Davis scored in the 2nd period to give the Bulls a 2-0 lead after two periods. 3rd period goals from Cody Gylling (his first as a Bull) and Kyle Gattelaro put the game out of reach. Boxscore
