NAHL Showcase Kicks Off With A Bang

Kenai River 1 @ Maryland 4 - The Maryland Black Bears never allowed the Kenai River Brown Bears to have the lead in both team’s first game in the NAHL Showcase. Black Bears forward Riley Fast scored the first goal of his NAHL career less than two minutes into the first period, assisted by Luke Janus. Dario Lass would follow 12 minutes later on an unassisted goal for the Brown Bears, tying the game at 1-1. The Slovak forward has been electric to begin the season, tied for sixth in league scoring with seven points in five games. The game wouldn’t be tied for long, as Kareem El Bashir notched his fourth goal of the season in the final seconds of the powerplay to give the Black Bears a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period. The second period was much tighter defensively, with the lone goal coming from the Black Bears Luke Janus, assisted by Markas Samenas and Owen Boucher. The Brown Bears found themselves on the penalty kill often in the period, with three penalties in the last 10 minutes. Mason Stenger would put the final nail in the coffin halfway through the third period, scoring the fourth and final Black Bears’ goal of the day. Janus led both teams in scoring with three points: one goal and two assists. Black Bears goaltender Benji Motew was stout in the victory, stopping 25 of 26 shots.

Anchorage 6 @ Johnstown 2 - A speedy, hard hitting morning matinee between the Anchorage Wolverines and the Johnstown Tomahawks saw the Wolverines tally their first win of the season by a final score of 6-2.Just 77 seconds into the first period, a beautiful end to end rush from Ryan Flaherty opened up a wide open net for Sean Morgan, and he buried it to give Johnstown an early 1-0 lead. Just past the halfway point of the period, an odd man rush and a loose puck found its way to Taisetsu Ushio, and he buried it to tie the game for Anchorage. Just over a minute later, Daniel Fagnole netted his second of the season to put Anchorage up 2-1, and with just 1:06 left, Drew Nelson netted his first NAHL goal to double the Wolverine lead to 3-1 after 20 minutes. In the second period, a point blast from Angel Lovecchio, his first NAHL goal, to put Anchorage up 4-1. But with just over a minute and a half remaining in the second, a nifty Sam Blanton breakaway cut the Anchorage lead to 4-2 after 40 minutes. Just before the halfway point of the third, a Lovecchio stretch pass found Cole Frawner to restore the 3 goal Wolverine lead. With just over a minute left, Frawner tallied an empty net goal, his second goal of the afternoon, to seal the 6-2 win. Vaughn Makar tallied 31 saves in the win for Anchorage, and Tommy O’Donnell tallied 31 saves in the loss for Johnstown.

Shreveport 3 @ New Hampshire 2 - The Shreveport Mudbugs secure their first win of the season! Tommy McDonough’s late unsportsmanlike minor penalty allowed Lucas Deeb to put the Mudbugs up late over the New Hampshire Mountain Kings. Nikola Goich’s 25 saves and Shreveport’s flawless 4-for-4 penalty kill allowed Deeb to seal the game late. New Hampshire falls to 1-3 on the season despite AJ Bongiorno and Kim Hilmersson’s tallies.

St. Cloud 4 @ Rochester 3 (OT) - The St. Cloud Norsemen denied a heroic third period comeback attempt from the Rochester Jr. Americans with an overtime stunner to kick off their NAHL Showcase series. After a scoreless first period, Kyle Miller buried the biscuit just 2:54 into the second to get the Norsemen on the scoreless board. Then, with just 1:37 left in the period, Carter Lundie capitalized on the man-advantage to extend the lead to two. Whatever the Jr. Americans were told in the locker room during the intermission worked, though, as the sticks got red-hot with three unanswered Rochester goals from Andrew Gibbons, Demitiri Diflorio and Owen King. With just over a minute remaining in the game, the Norsemen were now down by a goal with their backs against the wall. Luckily for St. Cloud, Lundie already knew how to get the puck in the back of the net, and did so to force overtime. Still riding the wave of momentum from Lundie’s clutch game-tying goal, Peyton Mithmuagneua collected his third assist of the game as Tim Runtso buried the game winner for the Norsemen. An exciting win that was not going to come easy for either squad was solidified by excellent goaltending from netminders Florian Wade, who stopped 21 out of 25 shots in the overtime loss for the Jr. Americans, and Beck Liden, who locked in to make 26 stops in 29 shots in the thriller for the Norsemen.

Fairbanks 4 @ New Jersey 2 - High powered scoring and strong goaltending propelled the Fairbanks Ice Dogs to a win against the New Jersey Titans. The Titans struck first blood off a powerplay goal from Ryan Friedman, assisted by Blake Jones. The Ice Dogs responded later in the period off a goal by defenseman Ian Norkevicus, his first of the season. Adam Timm and Cole Burke assisted on the goal. Timm would follow a few minutes later with his own goal in the final seconds of the 1st period off an assist from Wyatt Carlson, making it 2-1 Ice Dogs after 20 minutes. The Titans weren’t behind for long after a goal just over a minute into the second period from Nikita Meshcheryakov. The game was tied for only eight minutes of play, as Norkevicus notched his second goal of the day, assisted by Carlson. Coming into the third period, it was a tight affair with the Ice Dogs holding a 3-2 lead on the Titans. Timm would seal the victory for the Ice Dogs off an empty net goal with 1:23 to go in the final period. Timm and Norkevicus would both finish with two goals each, the former now tied for first in league scoring with nine points. While not logging any goals, Carlson led both teams in scoring with three assists. Both teams were strong in goaltending today: Ice Dogs goaltender Kevin Jones was 39 for 41 on the day, and Titans goaltender Austin McNicholas finished 30 for 33.

Austin 6 @ Elmira 1 - The Austin Bruins defeated the Elmira Aviators by a final score of 6-1 on Wednesday afternoon at the NAHL Showcase. Just before the halfway point of the first period, Jackson Rilei muscled his way to the front of the net to bury a loose puck on the powerplay to put the Bruins up 1-0, and that would remain the score after 20 minutes. Just over a minute into the second period, a Rilei centering pass found Gavin Hruza, and he buried his first NAHL goal to double the Bruins lead to 2-0. Just before the halfway point of the second, a Eli Brown point shot deflected off Luc Malkhassian to bring the Bruins lead to 3-0. With just under 7 minutes remaining, Sean Williams tallied his third goal of the season to cut the Austin lead to 3-1, but just 38 seconds later, Malkhassian found EJ Paddington to put Austin back up by three. With just 38 seconds left, a net front scramble found the stick of Malkhassian, and he multiplied the Austin lead to 5-1 after 40 minutes. Malkhassian would complete his hat trick in the third, and the Bruins would take home the 6-1 victory. Jack Solomon tallied 26 saves in the win, and Adam Prokop tallied 42 in the loss

Minnesota W 3 @ Northeast 4 - The Northeast Generals’ three third period goals led them to their first win of the season, over the Minnesota Wilderness. The Wilderness failed to score more than once during their 24 minutes of power play time. Niklas Erickson saved 23-of-26, while his Generals scored four on Ryan Nolan from just 17 shots on goal. The Generals scored twice late in the third to take the lead, from Masen Culley and Benjamin Campeau. 

Janesville 2 @ North Iowa 8 - The North Iowa Bulls dominated from the start and defeated the Janesville Jets 8-2 on Wednesday afternoon at the NAHL showcase. Just over five minutes into the first, Max Ferkodic broke the seal to put North Iowa up 1-0. Just past the midway point of the period, Hans Hedlund would tie the game for Janesville. With just over five minutes remaining, James Taylor put Janesville up 2-1, but the lead would not last for long, as just 20 seconds later, Eli Miller would tie the game back up, 2-2. With just 27 seconds left in the period, a Fuji Suzuki power play goal would put the Bulls up 3-2 after 20 minutes. In the 2nd, goals from Cooper Conway and Cole Wirun would send the Bulls to the 2nd intermission up 5-2. In the third, Wirun would tally his second, along with goals from Jack Seaverson and Trevor Stewart to finish the 8-2 victory. Kyle Ozgun tallied 33 saves in the win, and Mattew Alberti and William Hjalm combined for 35 in the loss.

Bismarck 2 @ Danbury 1 - The Bismark Bobcats grinded out a 2-1 win over the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks Wednesday as they played their first games in the NAHL Showcase. A defensively dense game, Evan Hunter began the scoring for the Bobcats with his goal halfway through the first period. The work was only just now beginning though, as the rest of the first period and entire second period would remain scoreless. The Jr. Hat Tricks were hungry, and scored on their only powerplay opportunity of the night to even the score at 1-1 with the help of Mike Sciabarra. However, just as the powerplay giveth, it taketh as well, as the Bobcats were able to convert one of their four man-advantages. While killing three of four penalties sounds good, it was ultimately the deciding factor in a match that saw the Jr. Hat Tricks leave everything they had on the ice. Thomas Kiesewetter fought tooth and nail for his team between the pipes, stopping 35 of 37 shots. Unfortunately for Danbury, it was not enough, as Bismarck’s kai Weigel saw less shots but conceded less goals as he made 15 out of 16 saves to secure the win.

Wisconsin 4 @ Philadelphia 2 - The Wisconsin Windigo survived a nailbiter against the Philadelphia Rebels today, in a game that almost went to overtime. The Rebels took the early lead off a Ryan Bunting goal. Windigo forward Jackson Ernst scored his first goal in the NAHL later in the first period, ending the period with both teams at a goal a piece. The second period saw the Rebels quickly end up on the penalty kill after a cross-checking call, which Michael Ryan took advantage of to give the Windigo the lead less than two minutes in. The next goal would see the Rebels tying the game at 2-2 off a powerplay goal from Luke Janviriya, assisted by Charles Panchisin for his seventh assist of the season. With less than a minute to go in regulation and overtime seeming likely, the Windigo capitalized on a late powerplay to take the lead off a Braydon Beahm goal. Theodore Richardson put in the empty net goal 45 seconds later, sealing the loss for the Rebels. The Windigo can credit their victory on their tenacious powerplay, scoring on two of four trips.

Springfield 2 @ Watertown 1 - The Springfield Jr. Blues’ 6-for-6 penalty kill and Gaige Giblin’s third period goal were enough to defeat the Watertown Shamrocks. Jean-Sebastien Pack’s late first period of the goal kicked off scoring early, but Ryan Gingher’s first of the season knotted the scoring midway through the second period. Giblin’s first of the season sealed Springfield’s first of the season, leaving Watertown winless to kick off NAHL action.

Chippewa 1 @ Aberdeen 2 - The power of special teams was on display Wednesday night as the Aberdeen Wings narrowly scraped by with a 2-1 over the Chippewa Steel. Kyle Murray-Smith was sent to the box for a cross-checking minor penalty just under three minutes into the game, and The Steel wasted no time. Aberdeen converted the advantage to take the lead 1-0 on Matic Percic’s powerplay tuck. Leonid Bulgakov buried the biscuit after a pass from Sebastian Lillsund late in the first period to knot the score at one for the Steel. The scoreboard read 1-1 all after 1. The score would not change until the final moments of the game. With just over a minute left on the clock, history repeated itself as Bulgakov buried the pass from none other than Percic, hooking up in the only other way the Wings scored on the day. However, this was no average goal. Not only did it come so late in the game, but it came shorthanded, and went on to be the game winning goal. In a game where numbers have seemed to repeat themselves, both netminders faced 22 shots. However, Wings goalie Damon Cunningham made one more crucial save than Steel goaltender Devin Shakar to bring home the win for the Wings.

USNTDP 1 @ Minot 6 - The Minot Minotauros unleashed an onslaught on the U.S. National Team Development Program (NTDP) in the first period this evening in the Minotauros’ first victory of the regular season. Jesse Juhola opened the scoring just under two minutes in to give the Minotauros an early 1-0 lead. The middle of the first period would signal a barrage of goals, the first from John Small, assisted by Ian Spencer. Juhola would notch his second of the game less than a minute after, with the Minotauros’ leading scorer last year Jack O’Hanisain on the assist. Five minutes later, Murray Marvin-Cordes put one in the back of the net, followed a minute-and-a-half later by O’Hanisain earning himself his first goal of the season. The Minotauros combined for  four goals in 7:47 of play. The lone NTDP goal came late in the period by Minnesota-Duluth commit Victor Plante. After a scoreless second period, the final goal came in the early third period from Luc Bydal, capping off the Minotauros’ victory.

Minnesota M 1 @ Maine 4 - The Maine Nordiques defeated the Minnesota Mallards by a final score of 4-1 on Wednesday night at the NAHL Showcase. In the first, a loose puck found its way to Luke Chapelle, and he buried it to give the Nordiques a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Just over five minutes into the second, Hunter Hayes would tie the game for the Mallards, but just past the midway point of the period, Tomek Haula would net a power play goal to put Maine back up 2-1. With just over a minute left in the period, Zion Green would double the Nordiques lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes. In the third, the Mallards would pressure to tie up the game, but a Laurent Trepanier empty net goal would seal the deal for the Nordiques. Matthew DellaRusso tallied 42 saves in the win, while his counterpart Richard Rafaj tallied 37 in the loss.