Saturday Scores: Nordiques lead East with another sweep
Evan Hunter has 12 points in his last 10 games as the Bobcats have won five straight games to take over 2nd place in the Central Division.
Maine 5 @ Rochester 2 – Charles Tardif recorded a hat-trick and Shane Kozlina had a goal and three assists to lead the Nordiques to a 5-2 win on Saturday and a weekend road sweep of Rochester. Kozlina opened the scoring in the 1st period. Tardif and Jake Bernadet added 2nd period goals, and Tardif scored two more times in the 3rd period. The Jr. Americans goals came from Matteo Disipio and Landon Brownlee. Carter Richardson made 40 saves in the win.
Bismarck 3 @ North Iowa 0 – The Bobcats got a 14-save shutout from Stephen Peck in a 3-0 win and weekend sweep of the Bulls. All of the scoring came in the 2nd period as the Bobcats got goals from Patrick Johnson, Julian Beaumont, and Evan Hunter. Tommy Cronin assisted on all three goals and Matthew Rafalski added two assists in the win. Bulls goalie Santo Simmchen made 31 saves in the loss.
Johnstown 6 @ New Hampshire 3 – Tomahawks netminder Jacob Osborne had another big night as he made 44 saves in a 6-3 win over the Mountain Kings, which completed a three-game sweep. The Tomahawks got goals from six different players, which included Lukas Klemm, Nick White, and Cade Baker in the 1st period, Will Lawrence in the 2nd period, and Dylan Shane and Chase Sandhu in the 3rd period. Mountain Kings goals came from Kim Hilmersson, Nick Reif, and Landon Steffen.
Aberdeen 4 @ St. Cloud 3 – Nikolai Tishkevich scored two goals and added an assist as the Wings picked up their first sweep of the season thanks to a 4-3 win in St. Cloud on Saturday. The teams were even at 2-2 after the 1st period as Drew Mackie and Tishkevich scored for the Wings, while Kyle Miller and Michael Coleman scored for the Norsemen. The Norsemen took a 3-2 lead in the 2nd period with a goal from Gavin Gunderson, but the Wings responded with goals from Tishkevich and Matthew Wisener to secure the 4-3 win. Adam Dybal made 22 saves in the winning effort for the Wings.
Minot 4 @ Austin 2 – The Minotauros widened their lead atop the Central Division as they picked up a weekend road sweep of the Bruins thanks to a 4-2 win on Saturday. The Minotauros jumped out to a 3-0 lead through two periods thanks to goals from Colby Bear, John Emmons, and Colby Woogk. In the 3rd period, the Bruins mounted a comeback thanks to a goals from Damon Furuseth and Jackson Rilei, but a goal later in the period from Jack O’Hanisain provided a 4-2 cushion and win. James Norton made 29 saves in the win.
Kenai River 2 @ Springfield 3 - The Springfield Jr. Blues held on to defeat the Kenai River Brown Bears by a score of 3-2 as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead and were able to hold off the Brown Bears in the final seconds. Jake Peterson got the Jr. Blues on the board first with his sixth of the season. In the middle frame, Hadley Hudak and Aidan Dyer added to the Springfield lead. Nicholas Stevens got Kenai River on the board and Tiziano Pauchard made things interesting with a goal early in the third period. JJ Cataldo ended up making 12 of his 29 saves in the final 20 minutes to secure the win for Springfield. Marks Slavinskis-Repe took the loss in goal for Kenai River as he stopped 21 shots.
Oklahoma 1 @ Shreveport 5: The Mudbus scored three times in the 3rd period en route to a 5-1 win and series sweep. After a scoreless 1st, Shreveport’s Brent Litchard and Lucas Deeb both tallied goals. Kyan Haldenby, Ryan Burke, and Nick Marino scored consecutively in the 3rd to extend the lead. Oklahoma’s Kaden Nelson scored 22 seconds into the final frame to end the shutout bid. Nikola Goich kept out 24 of 25 shots for the Mudbugs while Oklahoma’s Daniel Duris and William Stuski combined for 33 saves.
Corpus Christi 3 @ Odessa 6: Jackalopes defenseman John Christen scored twice and dished out two assists to help fuel Odessa past Corpus Christ 6-3. Michael Kadlecik, Hayden DeMars, and Christen all scored in the opening frame to get Odessa’s offense rolling early. Anthony Cafarelli got the IceRays on the board five minutes into the game. Thomas Wright scored for the Jacks in the 2nd while Corpus Christi’s Max Tedested and Cody Kempf made it a one-goal game heading into the 3rd period. Jowin Belsterling and Christen both found the back of the net in the 3rd to extend the lead and seal the win. Quentin Sigurdson kept out 20 shots in the win while Vilgot Holm kept out 26 for the IceRays.
New Mexico 3 @ El Paso 4: The Rhinos defended home ice Saturday night, picking up a 4-3 win to secure the series sweep. Medrick Bolduc and Ryan Gingher both tallied goals for El Paso in the 1st. Eddie Shepler and Gingher extended the lead in the 2nd with scores before Graham Harris got the Ice Wolves on the board. Jack Dalton and Yusaku Ando cut the deficit to one goal in the final frame but New Mexico was unable to complete the comeback. Kael Depape kept out 21 shots in the win while Jackson Fuller made 13 stops for New Mexico.
Fairbanks 0 @ Minnesota 1 (SO) - Both goaltenders were perfect through 65 minutes of action as the Wilderness and Ice Dogs battled it out on Saturday night. The only time the red light came on was in round four of the shootout as Gustav Ozolins scored the game deciding goal for Minnesota. Nick Erickson stopped 39 shots in regulation and overtime and stopped all four shooters he faced in the skills competition. Kyle Abrahamson also had a shutout in goal. He stopped 34 shots for the Ice Dogs in 65 minutes.
Lone Star 3 @ Amarillo 4 (OT): Drew Jeffers lit the lamp 2:53 into the extra period to win it for the Wranglers and split the weekend series. The Brahmas held a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play thanks to a goal off the stick of Ivan Zadvernyuk. Ben Ivey and Topi Puikkonen scored for Amarillo in the 2nd while Lone Star’s Brock James answered to keep the game square at 2-2 heading into the 3rd. Amarillo’s Henry McRoberts and Lone Star’s Ray Murakami sent the game to overtime a 3-3 with scores. Connor McDonough kept out 38 of 41 in the win while Jack Wieneke stopped 31 in the loss.
Philadelphia 2 @ Maryland 4 – The Black Bears got two goals from Riley Ruh and erased a 2-0 deficit to earn a 4-2 win over the visiting Rebels. Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Greg Spitznagel and Ryan Bunting. The Black Bears evened the game win goals from Ryder Nienhuis and Luke Rubin in the 2nd period. In the 3rd period, Ruh scored twice to secure the win. Maryland goalie Colin Ronan made 16 saves in the win.
New Jersey 1 @ Northeast 4 – Generals goalie Peter Wickstrom Stumer made 37 saves to lead his club to a 4-1 win and earn a weekend split with the Titans. The Generals jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to 1st period goals from Sixten Jennersjo and Jake Gutwirth and a 2nd period goal from Jacob Wilson. Ryan Friedman scored the lone Titans goal in the 3rd period, but the Generals answered with a late 3rd period goal from Ryan Remick.
Wisconsin 3 @ Chippewa 4 - The Chippewa Steel took a back and forth contest with the Wisconsin Windigo by a score of 4-3. Peyton Platter netted his 14th goal of the season to break the ice in the opening frame. Zachary Cline knotted things up for Wisconsin before Tomas Trunda gave the Steel a 2-1 lead heading into the break. Cameron Springer’s first goal of the year increased the Chippewa advantage to 3-1 but just before the end of the second period, Everett Pietila scored to bring his team within one again. In the opening minutes of the third Jackson Lackas scored to put the Steel up by two. Pietila scored his second goal of the game late for the Windigo but it was too little too late as the Steel held on to take home the victory. Ajay White stopped 34 of the 37 shots fired in his direction while Linards Lipskis made 29 saves in the loss for Wisconsin.
Anchorage 3 @ Janesville 2 (SO) - Brock Devlin scored the only goal of the shootout as the Anchorage Wolverines grounded the Janesville Jets by a final of 3-2. The teams traded goals in the final minute of the opening frame as Oliver Salo netted a goal for the Wolverines only to followed up by Jake Merens 77 seconds later. In the second period, Nick Sajevic scored his ninth of the season to put Janesville in front but Anchorage countered with another goal from Salo, giving him 10 on the year. After a scoreless third and overtime, we went to a skills competition where Devlin netted the game winner and Liam Beerman stopped all three shooters he faced. Beerman finished the night with 35 stops. Matthew Alberti was good in his own right as he ended the night with 42 saves.
