Friday Finals: Steel win inaugural game
September 15, 2018
Kenai River forward Michael Spethmann had a goal and an assist to help the Brown Bears to a 5-2 win in Janesville on Friday night.
Fairbanks 1 @ Chippewa 3 - Despite giving up the game’s first goal, the Chippewa Steel scored three unanswered goals to win their first game in team history. Austin Mikesch, Jacob Dirks and Connor Zilisch scored for the Steel while Owen Zdunski made 20 saves in the win. Jack Johnston scored the only goal for the defending Midwest Division champs. Nate Reid took the loss as he denied 25 of 28 shots on goal. Boxscore
Kenai River 5 @ Janesville 2 - A pair of goals from Filip Karlsson led the Kenai River Brown Bears to an opening night win over the Janesville Jets. Sutton McDonald and Michael Spethmann each contributed a goal and an assist in the win. Preston Weeks also found the back of the net for Kenai River. Gavin Enright notched his first win of the season as he made 30 saves. Andrew Hicks and Brenden MacLaren provided the offense for the Jets and Garrett Nieto made 32 saves in the loss. Boxscore
Johnstown 3 @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2 - The Johnstown Tomahawks used two late goals to top the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights by a score of 3-2. Cameron Hebert ended up scoring the game winning goal for Johnstown while Chad Merrill and Mitchell Hale also lit the lamp. Kade Phipps earned the win as he made 16 saves. For the Knights, Jeffrey Bertrand and Tyler Nielsen scored in the season opener but the star of the game was goaltender Zach Stejskal. He made 51 saves in a tough loss. Boxscore
New Jersey 6 @ Maryland 3 - A four-goal second period from the New Jersey Titans spoiled the first game in Maryland Black Bears history as the Titans skated away with a 6-3 win. Kyler Head led the New Jersey offense with two goals and an assist. Mac Wiseman, Ryan Naumovski, Cam Gendron, and Josef Glamos also scored for the Titans in the victory. Brandon Perrone earned the win in goal while David Tomeo took the loss for Maryland. Marek Wazny scored the first goal in Black Bears history and Jake Sujishi and Cameron Teamor also provided goals for Maryland. Boxscore
Odessa 1 @ Topeka 3 - The Pilots improved to 2-0 on the season after a 3-1 victory over the Odessa Jackalopes. Max Finner got the offense started in the third period, Quinn Green and Mason Vukonich added goals to seal the win for Topeka. Emil Gransoe picked up the win in goal as he stopped 29 of 30 shots. Kyle Herbster scored the lone goal for Odessa, Alex Camarre was stuck with the loss despite stopping 42 shots. Boxscore
