Friday Finals: Bobcats stay hot with shutout
Ronan Walsh scored twice as the Aberdeen Wings made a statement with a 5-1 road win in St. Cloud on Friday.
Bismarck 4 @ Minot 0 - Linards Lipskis stopped all 36 shots fired in his direction as he picked up his first NAHL shutout as his Bismarck Bobcats blanked the Minot Minotauros 4-0. Vert Jantunen led the offense with two goals and an assist. Patrick Johnson grabbed a goal and an assist while Luke Roelofs also grabbed a goal in the win. Lawton Zacher stopped 40 shots in the loss for Minot.
Aberdeen 5 @ St. Cloud 1 – Ronan Walsh scored twice as the Wings made a statement with a 5-1 road win in St. Cloud on Friday. After a scoreless 1st period, the Wings seized control in the 2nd period thank to four goals, including one from Walsh and others from Kyle Contessa, Barron Stibbe, and Nils Forselius. Nik Hong had the lone goal for the Norsemen. In the 3rd period, Walsh added his second goal to secure the 5-1 win. Cole Moore made 26 saves for the Wings in the win, while Tomas Bolo made 27 saves in the loss.
El Paso 4 @ Lone Star 5 - The Lone Star Brahmas took home the win after a back-and-forth affair that saw the Brahmas defeat the Rhinos 5-4. Mason Mara scored twice in the opening period to give Lone Star the lead. El Paso scored two goals in the opening minutes of the middle frame as Luke Morris and Tristan Kimmen found the back of the net. Dhillon Wilde gave Lone Star the lead again but it was short lived as Nick Justice scored to tie the game heading into the third period. Matthew Macdonald put Lone Star ahead for a third time but a power play goal from Justice tied the game at four apiece. 26 seconds after the game was tied, Ray Murakami picked up a loose puck and finished a wraparound to give Lone Star the lead and eventually the victory. Arthur Smith got the win in relief as he and William Gramme combined to make 15 saves. Nolan Suggs was given the loss as he made 26 stops for El Paso.
Maine 4 @ Northeast 5 – Generals defenseman Jackson McCarthy had two goals to lead his team to a 5-4 home win over the Nordiques. The Generals opened up a 4-1 lead thanks to goals from McCarthy, Paul Minnehan, David Andreychuk, and Jared Scott. John-Paul Steele had a goal for the Nordiques in the 1st period. The Nordiques tried to come back with three goals in the 3rd period from Brendan Gibbons, Kim Hilmersson, and Henrik Hallberg, but the second goal from McCarthy proved to be the difference. Cullen DeYoung made 45 saves in the win, while Thomas Heaney made 38 saves in the loss.
Maryland 8 @ New Jersey 4 – The Black Bears spoiled the banner-raising party of the Titans as they exploded for eight goals and moved to 8-1 on the season thanks to an 8-1 win. The Black Bears led 4-3 after an offensive 1st period as Hunter Ramos, Adam Schankula, Dimitry Kebreau, and Gabriel Westling scored for the Black Bears, while Michael Young had two goals for New Jersey and Anthony Calafiore also scored. Maryland took the lead for good in the 2nd period as Ramos added his second goal of the game and Christian Catalano also scored, while Levente Keresztes scored for the Titans to make it 6-4. In the 3rd period, the Black Bears put the game out of reach in the 3rd period as both Catalano and Westling scored their second goals of the game. William Hakansson made 20 saves in the win, while Zakari Brice made 10 saves in the loss and Jacob Torgner made 12 saves in a relief appearance.
Kenai River 4 @ Wisconsin 3 – Four different players scored and Nils Wallstrom made 36 saves as the Brown Bears picked up a 4-3 road win in Wisconsin on Friday. Goals from Ashton Christman and Casper Conradsson Kelvgaard put the Brown Bears ahead 2-0. The Windigo tried to claw back with goals from Zachary Cline, Cameron Boche, and Will Schumacher, but goals from Ryan Finch and Garrett Drotts secured the 4-3 win for Kenai River. Windigo goalie Maxwell Beckford made 21 saves in the loss.
Janesville 1 @ Chippewa 3 – Steel goalie Adam Gajan made 37 saves and Kazumo Sasaki scored twice to lead Chippewa to a 3-1 win over the visiting Jets. Sasaki opened up the scoring in the 1st period and then scored a goal early in the 2nd period to make it 2-0. The lead increased to 3-0 later in the 2nd period as Kade Nielsen scored a shorthanded goal. The Jets got on the board in the 3rd period with their lone goal from Jimmy Doyle. Selby Warren made 19 saves in the Jets loss.
North Iowa 3 @ Austin 2 – The Bulls moved into 1st place in the Central thanks to 42 saves from Mitch Day in a 3-2 win in Austin on Friday. After a scoreless 1st period, Austin opened the scoring in the 2nd period with a goal from Walter Zacher. The Bulls then rattled off three goals to take a 3-1 lead, which included goals from Eli Miller, Max Scott, and Byron Hartley. Dylan Cook scored a late goal for the Bruins to make the final 3-2. Ethan Robertson made 20 saves in the loss.
New Mexico 4 @ Corpus Christi 5 (SO) - Dylan Contreras scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Corpus Christi IceRays a 5-4 victory over the New Mexico Ice Wolves. The IceRays trailed 3-0 midway through the contest before Corpus Christi started their comeback. Cameron Crolley netted his first of the season to get the IceRays on the board. Dominic Foglia got them within one in the third and Crolley scored his second of the night just 50 seconds later to tie the game at three. Sully Schools put New Mexico back on top just 26 seconds after the game was tied but Tomas Trunda brought the game even again just 14 seconds afterwards. The game would remain even the rest of the way through overtime and into the skills competition. Blayde Pogreba, Will Howard and Jack Dalton all scored for New Mexico in the contest. Thomas Kiesewetter grabbed the win in goal as he made 28 saves. Carson Stokes took the tough luck loss as he made 46 saves.
Fairbanks 4 @ Springfield 1 - Tyler Herzberg led the Fairbanks offense with a goal and an assist as they took care of the Springfield Jr. Blues 4-1. Brady Welsch and Cameron Ricotta struck on the power play for the Ice Dogs while Kole Altergott added an empty net tally to secure the victory. Kayden Hargraves was sensational as he turned aside 43 of the 44 shots fired in his direction. Paul DeSaro netted the only goal for the Jr. Blues while Aksel Reid took the loss in goal as he made 19 stops for Springfield.
Oklahoma 3 @ Shreveport 2 (OT) - Rylan Brady scored just 1:33 into overtime as the Oklahoma Warriors beat the Shreveport Mudbugs 3-2. Max Dronen got the Warriors on the board midway through the game with his third of the season. Joey Delgreco followed it up with his third of the season just 53 seconds later to double the Oklahoma lead. Logan Gotinsky would pull the Mudbugs within one but they would trail until the final second of regulation. That’s when Eric Vitale beat the buzzer to force overtime. However the Warriors would wind up victorious with Brady’s third goal of the season. Daniel Duris picked up the win in goal as he made 18 saves. Tommy Aitken was dealt the loss as he made 28 saves for Shreveport.
Anchorage 2 @ Minnesota 3 (OT) - Joe Cesario banged home the game winner in the final minute of overtime as the Minnesota Wilderness edged the Anchorage Wolverines by a score of 3-2. Minnesota took the league just under six minutes into the action as Reid Daavettila scored his first goal of the year. Anchorage came back with a shorthanded tally a minute later off the stick of Fedya Nikolaenya. Aiden Westin scored on the power play before the end of the first period and that would give Anchorage the lead all the way until late in the third period. Beau Danzig tied the game with just 4:34 remaining in regulation to force the extra period, setting up Cesario’s heroics. Isak Posch picked up the win in between the pipes as he made 22 saves. Shane Soderwall was given the loss despite making 36 saves.
