Maine and New Mexico Advance to Division Semis
by Michael Seitz
Maine and New Mexico celebrate their Game 3 wins. Photo credits: Ron Morin & Zach Price
New Hampshire 2 @ Maine 6 (Maine wins series 2-1): Maine rode a four-goal third period to win the winner-take-all Game 3 over New Hampshire. The Mountain Kings opened the scoring just over four minutes into the contest as Cole Roenick found the back of the net. New Hampshire kept that 1-0 lead until late in the opening frame. Shane Kozlina tied the game for Miane with 2:39 to play in the period before Michael Stenberg gave the Nordiques the lead 43 seconds later. Maine took a 2-1 advantage into the first intermission. Jaden Johnson and the Mountain Kings grabbed the only tally of the middle frame with 14:15 left on the clock to tie the contest at two. The Nordiques offense exploded midway through the final frame. Luke Chappelle gave Maine the lead on the power play 9:12 into the third period before Grant Kohnen put his team up two 36 seconds later. A power play goal from Kellen Murphy and empty netter from Aidan Lindbald added tallies to give the Nordiques insurance and push the final score to 6-2. Carter Richardson stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced in the win for Maine while Sam Caulfield made 32 saves for New Hampshire. The Nordiques have a date with Maryland in the East Division Semifinals.
El Paso 0 @ New Mexico 4 (New Mexico wins series 2-1): New Mexico dominated El Paso in a decisive Game 3 to advance to the South Division Semifinals. Goaltenders Brendan Holahan and Gavin Schahn held their opponents off the scoresheet for the first 27:01 of the game before the Ice Wolves finally broke the ice. Toivo Laaksonen grabbed what ended up as the game-winning tally. It was his second goal of the series. Andrew Earl then added a second marker for New Mexico at the halfway point of the middle frame. Nayan Pai then cashed in on the power play 3:35 into the third period before Earl’s second of the game pushed the score to its 4-0 final in the dwindling minutes of the game. Schahn stopped all 16 shots he saw in the shutout victory for the Ice Wolves while Holahan stopped 34 shots for the Rhinos. New Mexico will meet Lone Star in the next round of the playoffs.
