Saturday Scores: Wild sweep 1st place Avalanche
Alaska 2 @ Wenatchee 3 - The Wenatchee Wild pulled out their brooms and rang in 2012 Saturday by earning a 2-game sweep over the 1st place Alaska Avalanche with a 3-2 victory at the Town Toyota Center. Coupled with a loss by the Fresno Monsters, the win allowed the Wild to move into third place in the West Division. The Wild opened scoring with 4:19 remaining in the first period on Trace Redmond’s third goal of the season. Alaska goaltender Nick Kulmanovsky made the initial save, but the rebound came back to Redmond, who buried his second opportunity. Ben Carey and Blake Roubos assisted. Wenatchee doubled its lead 9:10 into the second frame when Shawn Pauly lit the lamp on a wraparound. Chris Kerr and Max McHugh assisted. However, the Avs got back into the contest when Wehebe Darge scored on a backhander with 1:56 remaining before the second intermission. Brandon Brossoit was credited with the lone assist. The Wild regained a 2-goal lead, 3-1, when Blake Roubos scored from the inside corner of the far faceoff circle during a man-advantage. Carey and Dylan Abood picked up the assists. With an extra attacker on the ice, Alaska cut Wenatchee’s lead in half when Evan Janssen redirected a shot into the cage with 65 seconds remaining in regulation. Chris Buchanan and Joe Schmitz assisted. Roubos led the Wild with a goal and an assist while Carey recorded two helpers. Greg Lewis stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced to earn his sixth win of the 2011-12 season. Kulmanovsky made 16 saves on 19 shots. Wenatchee scored one power play goal on six opportunities while Alaska went 0-for-6. Boxscore
Fairbanks 5 @ Fresno 0 – Alex Fons made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season as Fairbanks swept the Fresno Monsters with a 5-0 win on Saturday. JT Osborn had two goals and two assists, Gabe Levin added three helpers and Alec Hajdukovich scored twice as the Ice Dogs needed just 21 shots to scored five goals. Boxscore
Springfield 0 @ Topeka 3 – Peter Traber stopped all 22 shots to record his second consecutive shutout of the weekend as Topeka swept Springfield with a 3-0 win. Ben Bahe, Dan Dupell and Sean Gaffney all scored for Topeka, who gave up just 40 shots all weekend to a struggling Jr. Blues offense. Topeka outshot the Jr. Blues, 31-22. Boxscore
Michigan 2 @ Port Huron 3 (SO) – Joe Pizza scored the lone goal in the shootout and Mike Moroso and Nico Sierra scored in regulation as the Fighting Falcons swept the Michigan Warriors with a 3-2 shootout win. Max Milosek made 28 saves in the win, whle Trevor Gorsuch made 36 saves in the loss. AJ White and Matus Matis scored for Michigan. Boxscore
Traverse City 2 @ Jamestown 4 – Thanks to two more goals from Eric Fragoso, the Ironmen crept closer to a playoff spot with a weekend sweep of the North Stars. Cody Sarmiento and Bryan Watt also scored for Jamestown and Joe Ballmer made 28 saves in the win. Sean Murphy and Jared Van Wormer scored for Traverse City. Boxscore
Coulee Region 2 @ Austin 5 – Austin Nelson and John Kirby scored twice and Charlie Adams had three points as Austin beat Coulee Region, 5-2. Tyler Bruggeman had 25 saves in the win for the Bruins, whle David Heflin made 31 saves in the loss for the Chill. Coulee Region goals came from Tyler Klein and Cory Lushanko. Boxscore
Alexandria 5 @ Aberdeen 2 – The Blizzard won both their weekend games as Seth Ronsberg scored twice and Dylan Zink and Thomas Williams chimed in with multi-point games as the Blizzard beat the Wings, 5-2. Cory Ward and Lane Mahoney scored for Aberdeen, who were stifled by the Blizzard’s Jacob Meyers who made 30 saves. Boxscore
Chicago 2 @ Janesville 4 – Darren McCormick scored twice as did Jordan Bancroft as Janesville swept Chicago with a 4-2 win on Saturday. Tony Kujava made 25 saves for his league leading 19th win. Nick Kohn made 37 saves in the loss for the Hitmen, who got goals from Sean Reynolds and David Gandara. Boxscore
Bismarck 5 @ Minot 2 – Tyler Richter scored twice and Castan Sommer, Danny Ray and Adam Knochenmus all had multi-point games as Bismarck increased their division lead to 14 points with a 5-2 win in Minot on Saturday. Tommy Burke made 26 saves in the win, while Jake Hebda made 35 saves in the loss for Minot.Boxscore
Texas 1 @ Odessa 4 – Connor Hellebuyck saved the Jacks again recording 42 saves as Odessa beat Texas, 4-1. The Tornado outshot Odessa 43-20, but two goals from Josh Obregon two assists each from Jalen Krogman and Lawrence Cornellier salvaged a weekend split for the Jacks. Mychal Monteith scored for the Tornado in the loss. Boxscore
Wichita Falls 2 @ Corpus Christi 1 – Matt Leon made 30 saves and Renato Engler had the game-winning goal and an assist as the Wildcats salvaged a weekend split against the ‘Rays. Tanner Fahlstedt also had a goal and assist in the winning effort for the Wildcats. Michael Dery had the lone goal in the loss for Corpus Christi. Boxscore
New Mexico 2 @ Amarillo 6 – The Bulls finished 2011 with an amazing 29 wins thanks to four, 3rd period goals in the 6-2 win and sweep over the visiting Mustangs. Brett Lafayette scored twice for New Mexico, but three points apiece from Joe Kozlak and John Rey was the difference for the Bulls. TJ Sarcona also had a multi-point night for Amarillo.Boxscore
