Warriors, Wranglers, Jets, Bruins go 4-0 at Showcase

The 19th annual NAHL Showcase concluded on Saturday, September 17th at the Super Rink in Blaine, MN.

All counted, close to 300 scouts were in attendance during the four-day mega event, which included almost every NCAA Division I program and NHL team.

Saturday's games were probably the closest competition yet with 11 of the 15 games being decided by two goals or less. The night was capped off by an impressive performance from the Maine Nordiques who beat the NTDP 17-team, 7-0.

The Oklahoma Warriors, Amarillo Wranglers, Janesvill Jets and Austin Bruins all won on Saturday, completing perfect 4-0 records during the event.

Saturday Box Scores

Day 4 Recaps

Maryland 5 vs. New Mexico 2 – The Black Bears finished the Showcase with a 3-1 record as they handed the Ice Wolves their first loss of the season thanks to a 5-2 win on Saturday. Kareem El Bashir scored twice in the win and Gunnar VanDamme had three assists. It was all Black Bears in the first two periods as they opened up a 3-0 lead with goals from Kal Essenmacher, Sean Kilcullen, and El Bashir. In the 3^rd period, the lead swelled to 5-0 as Christian Catalano scored and El Bashir added his second. New Mexico found the back of the net twice later in the 3^rd period as William Howard and Jake Keller scored. William Hakansson made 28 saves in the win, while William Craig made 25 saves in the loss.

Springfield 4 vs. New Jersey 0 – The Jr. Blues got a 30-save shutout from Aksel Reid as they won their second straight game at the NAHL Showcase, beating New Jersey, 4-0. The Titans fell to 0-6 on the season and went 0-4 at the Showcase. Brayden Cook and Justin Kingery scored for Springfield in the 1^st period. James Callahan and Jake Peterson added goals in the 2^nd period to complete the 4-0 win. Titans goalie Ben Charette made 30 saves in the loss.

Lone Star 5 vs. Kenai River 3 – The Brahmas got two goals from Jakum Teply in a 5-3 win over the Brown Bears, which was their third win of the Showcase. After a scoreless 1^st period, the Brahmas took a 3-2 lead in the 2^nd period thanks to goals from Dhillon Wilde, Matthew MacDonald, and Mason Mara, while Ryan Finch and Hayden Walters scored for the Brown Bears. In the 3^rd period, Teply scored both his goals to help the Brahmas secure the win, while Garret Drotts scored for Kenai River. Lone Star goalie Carson Dorfman made 32 saves in the win, while Nils Wallstrom made 18 saves in the loss.

El Paso 3 vs. Danbury 2 – Donovan O’Neill scored two goals to lift the Rhinos to a 3-2 win over the Jr. Hat Tricks in each team’s Showcase finale. The Rhinos finished the event 3-1, while Danbury was 0-4. O’Neill opened the scoring in the 1^st period, which was then followed by a goal from AJ Reed in the 2^nd period to make it 2-0 for the Rhinos. In the 3^rd period, O’Neill added his second of the game to make it 3-0. Danbury tried to make a late comeback in the 3^rd period with goals from Bohdan Panasenko and Robert Hyde, but could not find the equalizer. Hunter Garvey made 27 saves in the win, while Connor McDonough made 27 saves in the loss.

Oklahoma 3 vs. Northeast 1 – The Warriors finished the Showcase with a perfect 4-0 record as they used 23 saves from Cameron Korpi to beat the Northeast Generals, 3-1. The Generals finished the event 0-4. The Warriors took an early lead thanks to a 1^st period goal from Max Dronen. The Generals had an answer later in the period as Jared Scott scored his second goal of the season to knot the game at 1-1. In the 2^nd period, Brendan Williams netted his 4^th goal of the Showcase to make it 2-1, and in the 3^rd period Drew Sutton added a power play goal for insurance. Generals goalie Toby Hopp made 21 saves in the loss.

Philadelphia 4 vs. Shreveport 2 – Rebels goalie Jakub Krbecek made 32 saves to lead the Rebels to a 4-2 win over the Mudbugs. The Rebels finished the event 3-1 and the Mudbugs finished 1-3. Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead thanks to a 1^st period goal from Klaus Jogi. The lead swelled to 3-0 in the 2^nd period with goals from Maxwell Marquette and Dylan Blue. The Mudbugs clawed back with a pair of goals later in the period from Jaden Goldie and Jake Mack to make it 3-2. In the 3rd period, Max Hamstad scored an insurance goal to make it 4-2. Mudbugs goalie Tommy Aitken made 22 saves in the loss.

Corpus Christi 3 vs. Johnstown 2 – IceRays goalie Stefan Carney made 43 saves to lead his team to their first win of the season as they beat the Tomahawks, 3-2. The IceRays jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Stepan Kuznetsov and Dominic Foglia. The Tomahawks cut into the lead and tied the game at 2-2 in the 3^rd period with goals from Johnny Ulicny and Drake Albers. However, a late goal from Hans Martin Ulvebne proved to be the game-winner for Corpus Christi. Tomahawks goalie Dominik Wasik made 18 saves in the loss.

Fairbanks 5 vs. Odessa 4 (SO) – The Ice Dogs outlasted former assistant coach Scott Deur and the Jackalopes in a shootout on the final day by a score of 5-4. Odessa led 2-1 after one period as Dayne Hoyord and Ryan Kelly scored, while Julian Recine scored for Fairbanks. In the 2^nd period Fairbanks turned the tables with two goals from Tyler Herzberg and Domenick Evtimov, while Emerson Goode scored for Odessa to make it 3-3. In the 3^rd period, Jake Cameron scored for Fairbanks and Goode added his second for the Jackalopes to knot the game at 4-4 and send things to overtime. In the shootout, Fairbanks forward Cameron Ricotta had the winner for the extra point. Dylan Eliason made 20 saves in the win, while Quentin Sigurdson made 16 saves in the loss.

Amarillo 4 vs. Aberdeen 2 – The Wranglers finished the Showcase with a perfect 4-0 record as they doubled up the Wings, 4-2. Amarillo jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a power play goal from Rihards Simanovics. The Wings tied the game at 1-1 early in the 2^nd period on a goal from Anthony Galante. The Wranglers regained the one-goal lead thanks to another power play goal from Simanovics. The Wranglers lead increased to 3-1 in the 3^rd period as Logan Cleary scored. The Wings cut the lead down to 3-2 as Zachary Reim scored with less than two minutes remaining, but an empty-net goal from Kyle DeMarco secured the 4-2 win. Luca Ganz made 19 saves in the win, while Cole Moore made 30 saves in the loss.

Minot 5 vs. Anchorage 2 – The Minotauros picked up their second win of the Showcase as a three-point night from Colby Joseph led the team to a 5-2 win over the Wolverines. Minot jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to 1^st period goals from Jack O’Hanisain and Justin Dauphinais. The lead increased to 3-0 in the 2^nd period as Joseph scored. Anchorage made it 3-1 on a goal from Danny Reis, but Minot responded two more times in the 2^nd period with goals from Joe Westlund and Colby Woogk to make it 5-1. Hayden Hennen had a power play goal in the 3^rd period for Anchorage to complete the scoring. Minot goalie Lawton Zacher made 36 saves in the win, while Shane Soderwall made 34 saves in the loss.

Janesville 3 vs. North Iowa 1 – In a battle of two unbeaten 3-0 teams, it was the Jets who scored three goals in the 3^rd period to break the Bulls shutout streak and come away with a 3-1 win and perfect 4-0 record at the Showcase. The first two periods went scoreless, which came as no surprise as both the Jets and Bulls have been the best teams defensively at the Showcase. The Jets finally got on the board early in the 3^rd period as Chris Pelosi scored. Three minutes later, Pelosi would add his second of the game to make it 2-0. North Iowa made it 2-1 late in the 3^rd period on their lone goal from Jake La Russo, but the Jets put the game on ice with a goal from Gabriel Lundberg. Peter Sterling made 33 saves in the win, while Mitch Day made 33 saves in the loss.

St. Cloud 2 vs. Wisconsin 0 – Norsemen goalie Will Ingemann stopped all 28 shots that came his way for his first career NAHL shutout as St. Cloud blanked Wisconsin, 2-0. After a scoreless 1^st period, the Norsemen went ahead 1-0 in the 2^nd period with a power play goal from Hogan Sinjem. In the 3^rd period, the Norsemen put the game on ice with a goal from Kade Peterson. Windigo goalie Maxwell Beckford made 28 saves in the losing effort.

Minnesota 2 vs. Bismarck 1 (OT) – Isak Posch made 26 saves to lead the Wilderness to a 2-1 overtime win over former Central rival Bismarck. The Bobcats led for the majority of the game as Vertti Jantunen scored a power play goal early in the 1^st period. The Wilderness tied the game early in the 3^rd period as Adam Johnson scored. In the overtime, a rush up the ice by Ren Morque got the puck on goal and Joe Cesario poked the loose puck in for the winner. Bismarck goalie Linards Lipskis made 26 saves in the loss.

Austin 3 vs. Chippewa 1 – In a battle of unbeaten 3-0 teams, the Bruins got 25 saves from Ethan Robertson to cap off a 3-1 win over the Steel. After a scoreless 1^st period, the Bruins went ahead 2-0 in the 2^nd period with goals from Dylan Cook and Josh Giuliani. The Steel pulled to within a goal midway through the 3^rd period as Matthew Brille scored, but an empty-net goal from Austin Salani secured the win and undefeated Showcase. Carter Wishart made 25 saves in the loss.

Maine 7 vs. NTDP 0 – Seven different players scored and Thomas Heaney stopped all 26 shots that came his way for the shutout as the Nordiques made a statement with a 7-0 shutout of the NTDP. Maine scored early and often, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1^st period with goals from David Helledy, Patrick Schmiedlin, and Nicholas Bernardo. In the 2^nd period, the lead widened to 5-0 as Anthony Achille and Brendan Gibbons lit the lamp. In the 3^rd period, goals from Aidan Coupe and Laurent Trepanier sealed the 7-0 win. NTDP goalie Jack Parsons made 42 saves in the loss.