Saturday Scores: Brahmas earn split in Topeka
Lone Star Brahmas 5 @ Topeka RoadRunners 3 – The Brahmas won their second game of the season and earned a weekend road split with Topeka thanks to a hat-trick from Ryan Watson and a 5-3 win. It looked good early for the RoadRunners as they scored twice in the game’s opening five minutes. Michal Uhrik scored :11 seconds into the game and Tyler Poulsen added a power play goal. However, the Brahmas responded with a power play goal from AJ Duggan and one from Watson. Watson then went on to score two more in the 2nd period to give the Brahmas a 4-2 lead. Mike Gornall scored to make it 4-3, but Duggan’s second of the night secured the win for Lone Star, who got 34 saves from Jacob Nehama in the win. Boxscore
Coulee Region Chill 2 @ Kenai River Brown Bears 3 – The Brown Bears completed a weekend home sweep of the Chill to stay in 2nd place in the Midwest Division. Zach Quinn picked up his league-leading sixth win, making 24 saves. The teams traded goals in the 1st period with Christian Luiten putting the Bears on the board and Eddie Matsushima scoring for Coulee Region. Sebastian Fuchs and Zack Zulkanycz scored for the Brown Bears in the 2nd period to increase the lead to 3-1. For Fuchs, it was his third goal of the weekend. Jake Zeleznikar added an early 3rd period power play goal for the Chill, but Quinn made the lead stand the rest of the way. Blake Cates made 34 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Amarillo Bulls 6 @ Wichita Falls Wildcats 3 – The Bulls got two goals from Brendan McGuire to complete a weekend road sweep of the Wildcats. The Bulls opened the scoring as Joe Grabowski’s shot found its way through heavy traffic in front of Chase Munroe to make it 1-0. Amarillo doubled its lead in the second period when Kyle Gattelaro slammed home a rebound to make it 2-0. The Wildcats clawed their way back even as Tyler Ledford stuffed home a loose puck after a wrap-around attempt to make it 2-1 at 17:25 of the second and then Jordan Jancze then tied the score with 11.1 seconds left in the period. The Bulls took control of the game in the third period however, with Brendan McGuire scoring two goals to make it 4-2. Wichita Falls cut the lead to one when Nick Farmer scored shorthanded with 9:29 left in the third. Grabowski and Adem Arifi each potted an empty-net goal to take the final score to 6-3. Boxscore
Minot Minotauros 2 @ Wenatchee Wild 3 – The Wild got back on track with a weekend home sweep of the Minotauros to move out of the cellar in the Midwest Division and into a 4th place tie. It was a low scoring affair, but with plenty of offense as both teams had 32 shots. Troy Loggins gave the Wild a 1-0 lead in the 1st period, but that was answered by a goal from Minot’s Tim Donohue. Chris Koukis responded back for the Wild in the 2nd period with a shorthanded goal. Trey Bradley’s goal early in the 3rd period made it 3-1 for Wenatchee. Cameron Rowat added a late 3rd period goal to bring the Minotauros to within 3-2. Boxscore
Corpus Christi IceRays 1 @ Fairbanks Ice Dogs 4 – Patrick Munson made 23 saves as the Ice Dogs earned a weekend split with the IceRays with a 4-1 win in front of a sold out crowd in Fairbanks. The Ice Dogs got off to a fast start with goals from Viktor Liljegren and Kyle Lee in the first 11 minutes of the contest. The would be the end of the night for IceRays goalie Forbes Ploszaj, who was pulled in favor of Ben Myers. The Fairbanks lead increased to 3-0 early in the 3rd period with a goal from David Kaplan. The IceRays got to within one with an extra attacker goal late in the 3rd period from Mikkel Hojbjerg, but Jacob Hetz added an empty-netter for the 4-1 win. Boxscore
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 5 @ Odessa Jackalopes 2 – Behind two goals from Nathan Flynn, the Killer Bees picked up a weekend road sweep of Odessa to move into a tie for 3rd place in the South Division. The Jackalopes struck first on a goal from Mathieu Briand, but the Bees would answer with a goal from Austin Hoff. Flynn then scored twice in the 2nd period to push the Bees lead to 3-1. Briand added his second goal of the game to make it 3-2 after two periods. Evan Schmidbauer and Aleksi Luhtalampi scored in the 3rd period for Rio Grande Valley to secure the win. Boxscore
Minnesota Wilderness 2 @ Minnesota Magicians 3 (SO) – It took an incredible 20 combined shooters before someone would score, but a shootout goal from Cody Milligan broke the deadlock and gave the Magicians a 3-2 shootout home win. The Wilderness were seemingly in control the entire game with two goals coming from Johno May. However, the Magicians found some last-minute magic as Tony Uglem scored twice in the final minute of regulation to send the game to a shootout. Kasimir Kaskisuo made 35 saves in the loss, while Atte Tolvanen got the win making 25 saves and all 10 shooters in the shootout. Boxscore
Michigan Warriors 2 @ Janesville Jets 5 – A sweep is just what the doctor ordered for the Jets as they got goals from five different players, include three in the 3rd period to break a 2-2 deadlock in a 5-2 win. The teams were tied after the first two periods as Adam Winborg and Jordan Himley struck for Janesville and Colin Horton and Colin Larkin scored for Michigan. However, three 3rd period goals from Robin Hoglund, Michael Louria and Zach Avolio secured the win and sweep for the Jets. Brock Kautz made 33 saves in the win. Boxscore
Port Huron Fighting Falcons 2 @ Soo Eagles 1 – Alex Blankenburg made 24 saves to help the Fighting Falcons to a 2-1 road win to take three of four points over the weekend against the Eagles. After no scoring in the 1st period, Taylor Fernandez and Zach Badalamenti scored in the 2nd period to give Port Huron a 2-0 lead. Jacob McDowell scored the lone Soo goal on an early power play in the 3rd period, but the Eagles couldn’t find the equalizer. Paige Skoog made 31 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Aberdeen Wings 1 @ Bismarck Bobcats 2 (SO) – The Bobcats pulled off the weekend home-and-home sweep and moved into sole possession of 2nd place in the Central with a 2-1 shootout win over the Wings. Both goalies were great as Bismarck’s Aaron Nelson made 25 saves in the win and Aberdeen’s Chad Catt made 37 saves in the loss. Aberdeen’s lone goal in regulation came from Jordan Heller on the power play, while Bismarck answered in the 2nd period with their own power play goal from Filip Starzynski. Stanislav Dzakhov and Joonas Huovinen scored the shootout goals for Bismarck. Boxscore
Brookings Blizzard 1 @ Austin Bruins 11 – The Bruins scored an NAHL season-high 11 goals in a 11-1 win over the visiting Blizzard. Guillaume Leclerc had a hat-trick and Luke Dietsch and Josh Bretner each had four points. Things started fine for Brookings as Conor Andrle scored the first goal of the game, but it was all Bruins after that. Besides the goals from Leclerc and Dietsch, the other six goals on the night came from Brennan Sanford, Austin Nelson (2), Sam Kauppila, Jay Dickman and Easton Viitala. Nick Lehr had another strong outing in goal, making 23 saves. Boxscore
Springfield Jr. Blues 2 @ Johnstown Tomahawks 3 – Omar Mullan scored twice to lead the Tomahawks past the Jr. Blues in Johnstown. Springfield would score first early in the 1st period on a power play goal from defenseman Alex Baskakov. The Tomahawks responded a minute later on a goal from Collin Finkhouse. Mullan took over the 2nd period with a pair of even-strength goals less than four minutes apart. Max Kalter added a late 3rd period goal for the Jr. Blues, but that’s all Alex Okicki would allow in goal for the Tomahawks, making 20 saves in the win. Boxscore
