Friday Finals: Bruins Hand Bobcats First Regulation Loss

Johnstown 4 @ Northeast 3 - Despite getting outshot 50-25, the Johnstown Tomahawks narrowly edged out the Northeast Generals Friday afternoon by a final of 4-3. The Generals got off to a hot start thanks to a pair of goals in the first period, courtesy of Finnegan Connor and Frank D’Ancona. From there, it was all Johnstown in the second. Adam Ondris netted a pair, and Sam Blanton also lit the lamp to put the Tomahawks in front. Nick Jarmain looked to solidify the win for Johnstown early in the third by adding on another tally. Even though Jaden Sikura netted one late for Northeast to try to even the score, they wound up falling 4-3.

Maine 4 @ Danbury 0 - The Maine Nordiques earned their 10^th victory of the season in dominant fashion, shutting out the Danbury Hat Tricks 4-0. Zion Green opened the scoring midway through the first, before the Nordiques erupted in the second with a trio of goals. Ethan Rosenoff, Michael Stenberg, and Tomek Haula all got on the stat sheet by lighting the lamp. A scoreless third solidified the shutout, as Carter Richardson padded aside all 15 shots faced to earn the victory.

Maryland 5 @ Elmira 4 (SO) - In a hard-fought battle, the Maryland Black Bears narrowly defeated the Elmira Aviators 5-4 Friday night in a shootout. Following a scoreless first, Markas Samenas and Isac Nielsen got the Black Bears on the board to give them a two-goal lead heading into the third. Maryland looked to run away with the win, thanks to Dylan Gordon and Maddox Tulacro’s shots that hit the back of the net. However, Elmira was on a mission to come back. Within just 10 minutes, the Aviators pounced to score four unanswered goals to tie it up. Matthew Maglio opened the scoring for Elmira, followed by a pair from Ben Costantino. Finally, Alexis Billequey sent the game to overtime by lighting the lamp with just seven seconds left in regulation. After a scoreless OT, the game would wind up going into a shootout, where the Black Bears would come out on top.

New Hampshire 5 @ New Jersey 0 - The New Hampshire Mountain Lions rans away with a 5-0 shutout victory Friday night versus the New Jersey Titans. Tommy McDonough got things rolling early in the first, before Jaden Johnson and Charlie Vincent would extend the Mountain Lions lead in the second. Johnson and Oli Genest then lit the lamp in the third to solidify the lopsided win. Goaltender Sam Scopa was outstanding in net, stopping all 37 shots thrown his way to earn the victory.

Rochester 4 @ Philadelphia 3 (OT) - Fans certainly were in for a thriller Friday night, as the Rochester Jr. Americans defeated the Philadelphia Rebels 4-3 in overtime. A back-and-forth first period saw Hugo Branthsson light the lamp for Rochester, before Thomas Neu tied it up for Philadelphia. With under a minute left, Jordan Palmer scored for the Jr. Americans to regain the lead. Nicholas Reiff scored the lone goal of the second period, as Rochester held a two-goal advantage heading into the third. With under five minutes to go, Charles Panchisin and Brady Sherian each scored to even the score. In overtime, it would be Adam Gionta to seal the deal, as Rochester wound up winning 4-3.

North Iowa 4 @ Watertown 2 - The North Iowa Bulls defeated the Watertown Shamrocks Friday night by a final score of 4-2. The Bulls got things rolling early in the first and never looked back, as a trio of goals from Davis Higly, Sangyeob Kim, and Michael Malatino allowed them to take a commanding lead.  Ryan Whiterabbit looked to minimize the gap, and did just that with a second period goal for the Shamrocks. However, it would be Luke Gustafson to hit the back of the net next, as Iowa again went up by three. Antons Macijevskis tacked another on for Watertown, but it wouldn’t be enough as North Iowa emerged victoriously. Kyle Ozgun was stellar in goal, padding away 33/35 to earn the win.

Janesville 4 @ Wisconsin 7 - The Wisconsin Windigo got back into the win column as the offense exploded for seven goals in a victory over the Janesville Jets. Lucas Busch had two goals and two assists as the catalyst for Wisconsin. Braydon Beam notched two goals and one assist. Jackson Ernst grabbed a goal and three helpers while Logan Nickolaus chipped in a goal and two assists. Ronnie Hill got on the scoresheet as well for the Windigo. Trevor Aberwald, Nick Messina and Jay Luedke provided the goals for Janesville. Lucas Szyszka got the win as he made 19 stops. Matthew Alberti suffered the loss as he finished with 26 saves.

Minot 1 @ St. Cloud 0 - In a duel between netminders, Lukas Sweden came out on top as he stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Minot Minotauros blanked the St. Cloud Norsemen 1-0. Billy Batten had the only goal of the game with the helpers going to Jack O’Hanisain and Jesse Juhola. Beck Liden was excellent in net for St. Cloud as he allowed the one goal as he was saddled with the loss.

Bismarck 2 @ Austin 4 - Alex Laurenza scored the eventual game winner and had two assists as the Austin Bruins handed the Bismarck Bobcats their first loss in regulation on Friday night. After Zan Rowan got Bismarck on the board early. Connor Beckwith and Lucy Malkhassian scored in the second period to give Austin their first lead of the game. Laurenza scored in the opening minute of the third to increase the lead for the Bruins. Alexandr Kim brought Bismarck within one but Jackson Rilei sealed the win with an empty net tally in the final seconds. Jack Soloman picked up the win in goal as he made 23 saves. Kai Weigel suffered the defeat in goal as he finished with 27 stops.

Shreveport 7 @ Amarillo 3 - The night belonged to Kyan Haldenby as the Shreveport forward led all skaters with five points as the Mudbugs beat the Wranglers 7-3. Seth Murch, Liam Doyle, Ian Emery and Aiden Puley each had a goal and an assist for the Mudbugs. Bode Wise also chipped in a goal. Grayson Gerhard, Cru Hanas and Trace Day got on the scoresheet for Amarillo. Aden Gariepy was the winner in between the pipes with a 36 save performance. Charlie Zolin and Charles-Antoine Girard combined to stop 23 shots.

Minnesota M 3 @ Aberdeen 8 - The crowd in Aberdeen had a lot to cheer for on Friday night as the Wings offense found the back of the net eight times. Luke Backel had a goal and four assists to lead all skaters in points. Owen Pitters potted a pair of goals and contributed a pair of assists. Cade Moxham and Leonid Bulgakov each had three points while Jack McDonough, Ryan Flaherty and Sebastian Lilllsund all contributed to the offensive attack. Mitch Vanderway, Hunter Hayes and Owen Durigan netted goals for Minnesota. Damon Cunningham was the winner in goal with 23 saves. Richard Rafaj and Zane Spaniol teamed up to make 35 stops.

Odessa 1 @ Lone Star 3 - The Lone Star Brahmas secured a win at home against the Odessa Jackalopes on Friday night. The Brahmas opened the scoring less than a minute into the first period, with Saxton Tess finding the back of the net. Just three minutes later, Zdnek Dobes scored another goal for the Brahmas, making the score 2-0 at the end of the first. The second period was scoreless. Near the end of the 3rd period, Caden Ghiossi netted a shorthanded goal and put up the only point of the night for Odessa. With six seconds remaining in the game, the Brahmas' Charlie Masek scored an empty-net goal to make the night’s final score 3-1 Brahmas.

Colorado 1 @ El Paso 2 - The El Paso Rhinos defeated the Colorado Grit in a close matchup on Friday night. Colorado’s George Poirier kicked off the night’s scoring with a power-play goal with a minute left in the first period. No goals were scored in the second period, but Beckett Hinchsliff netted a goal early on in the third period to start off El Paso’s scoring. Just two minutes later, El Paso’s Trent Anfinson put another point on the board for the team. The game concluded with a final score of 2-1 El Paso. Both teams put up 34 shots with El Paso’s netminder, Joey Luvullo saving 33 shots for the win and Colorado’s goaltender, Jack Erickson saving 32 in the loss.

Oklahoma 3 @ New Mexico 5 - The New Mexico Ice Wolves emerged victorious against the Oklahoma Warriors claiming a win on home ice. Oklahoma’s Charlie Ashton opened the scoring with a goal less than a minute into the first period. New Mexico quickly retialited and took the lead with Bryce Johnson, Liam Waugh, and Max Matthews all netting goals in the first. In the second period, New Mexico’s Sloan Farmer found the back of the net midway through the period. Soon after, Oklahoma’s Travis Bryson netted a beautiful pass from Sebastian Speck to put another point on the board for the Warriors. Oklahoma kicked off the scoring in the third period with Bryson scoring a power play goal and his second goal of the night. Later on in the third, Ethan Hull scored an empty net goal to help secure New Mexico’s 5-3 win over Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s goaltender, Kyle Jones made an impressive 43 saves out of 47 shots in the loss, while New Mexico’s netminder, Gavin Schahn saved 18 out of 21 shots for the win.

Chippewa 4 @ Anchorage 5 (SO) - The Anchorage Wolverines claimed a nail-biting victory over the Chippewa Steel in a shootout on Friday night. Anchorage opened the scoring midway through the first period with Daniel Baghole finding the back of the net. Chippewa responded back later in the period with two goals scored by Gavin Middendorf and Henry Peterson. In the second period, the Wolverines tied the game with a goal from Taisetu Ushio. The Steel regained the lead shortly after with Camden Davis scoring two back to back goals making the score 4-2 heading into the third period. Anchorage came back in the third with Ushio netting his second goal of the night followed by another one from Samuel Evert just a minute later. Both teams fought hard at the end of regulation and in overtime pushing the game to a shootout. In the shootout, Tomas Trunda scored for Chippewa, but Anchorage clinched the victory with goals scored by Brock Devlin and Jackson Stimple giving the Wolverines a 5-4 final score.

Minnesota 6 @ Kenai River 3 - The Minnesota Wilderness claimed a victory over the Kenai River Brown Bears in a high-scoring matchup Friday night. The Wilderness set the tone early on in the game with Frantisek Netusil scoring two goalsback-to-back, including a power play goal to kick off the night’s scoring. Zach Homer followed shortly after extending Minnesota’s lead to 3-0. Kenai River fought back later in the first perid with a goal from Michael Fiedorczuk, to make the score read 3-1 at the end of the first. Minnesota’s momentum carried into the second period, as Netusil completed his hat trick with another power-play goal. River Freeman added to the Wilderness's lead, pushing the score to 5-1 heading into the third period. Kenai River attempted to fight back in the third period with goals from Luke Hause and Joseph Yoon later on in the period. Minnesota’s Ben Roulette sealed the Wilderness victory with an empty-net goal to make the final score 6-3.

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