Friday Finals: Bruins widen Central lead with win over Wings
Justin Biraben had a hat-trick to lead Fairbanks to a 4-2 win over the Springfield Jr. Blues on Friday night.
Aberdeen 1 @ Austin 4 - A three-point night from Austin Salani helped the Austin Bruins increase their lead in the Central Division as they defeated Aberdeen by a score of 4-1. A goal and two helpers from Salani combined with goals from Nate Looft, Walter Zacher and Ocean Wallace was all the Bruins needed to tack on two points to their record. Trent Wiemken was nearly perfect for Austin as he made 25 saves to earn the win in goal. Dylan Wegner scored for Aberdeen while Geno Pichora stopped 28 shots in a losing effort.
Fairbanks 4 @ Springfield 2 - Justin Biraben had a hat trick to lead Fairbanks to a 4-2 win over the Springfield Jr. Blues. Julian Recine and Billy Renfrew each had a pair of assists to help Fairbanks keep a share of first place in the Midwest Division while McCabe Dvorak added the other goal for the Ice Dogs. Alex Fendler and Hayden Riva notched goals for the Jr. Blues. Kayden Hargraves picked up the win in between the pipes as he made 24 saves. Carson Dorfman was saddled with the loss as he stopped 23 of 26 shots.
Odessa 6 @ Corpus Christi 3 - The Odessa Jackalopes offense continued to roll as they received goals from six different players as they closed out a sweep of the Corpus Christi IceRays with a 6-3 win on Friday night. Dayne Hoyord, John Perdion and Emerson Goode all had a goal and an assist for the Jackalopes. Cameron Dunn, Ryan Mansfield and Brendan Finn also lit the lamp for the Jacks. Michael Casey and Jackson Beach had a goal and an assist for Corpus while Logan Neilson also potted a goal in the loss. Gergely Orosz was the winner in goal as he stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced. Lukas Malant turned aside 57 shots for the IceRays.
St. Cloud 2 @ Minot 3 (OT) – Minot rebounded from a 9-2 loss the night before to beat the Norsemen in overtime, 3-2. After a scoreless 1st period, the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 in the 2nd period as Blake Perbix scored for St. Cloud and Nick Sewecke answered for Minot. In the 2nd period, St. Cloud took the lead again thanks to a goal from Kade Peterson, but Minot answered again late in the game as Chase LaPinta scored to equalize at 2-2. In overtime, it took Minot less than a minute to net the game-winner as Nick O’Hainisain scored. Noah Rupprecht made 24 saves in the win, while Tomas Bolo made 30 saves in the loss.
Lone Star 1 @ New Mexico 3 – Ice Wolves goalie Carsen Stokes made 21 saves to lead New Mexico to a 3-1 win over the 1st place Brahmas. After a scoreless 1st period, New Mexico opened the scoring in the 2nd period with an unassisted goal from Nikolai Dulak. The Brahmas answered later in the period with their lone goal from Dhillon Wilde. In the 3rd period, the Ice Wolves pulled away with goals from Tyler Samodral and Jack Dalton. Brahmas goalie William Gramme made 32 saves in the loss.
Oklahoma 3 @ Amarillo 1 – Daniel Duris made 26 saves to lead the Warriors to a 3-1 road win in Amarillo on Friday. Hunter Jones factored in on all three Warriors goals as he scored once and added two assists. The Wranglers got on the board first as Chase Davis netted his 10th goal of the season. It was all Warriors after that as Jones answered back in the 1st period to make it 1-1. Brendan Williams and Rylan Brady added goals in the 2nd period to make it 3-1. Wranglers goalie Luca Ganz made 24 saves in the loss.
Kenai River 3 @ Minnesota 4 (SO) – The Wilderness came back from a 3-1 deficit to top the Brown Bears in a shootout, 4-3. Kenai River had a 3-1 lead after two periods thanks to two goals from Nick Stevens and one from Ben Monson, while Oliver Stumpel scored for the Wilderness. In the 3rd period, the Wilderness tied the game at 3-3 with goals from Joe Cesario and Donovan O’Neil. In the shootout, the Wilderness got goals from Stumpel and Kevin Marx Noren to secure the extra point. Isak Posch made 21 saves in the win, while Nils Wallstrom made 29 saves in the loss.
El Paso 0 @ Shreveport 5 – December’s NAHL goalie of the month, Simon Bucheler, stopped all 20 shots that came his way for his second shutout of the season as the Mudbugs won their 5th straight game thanks to a 5-0 home win over El Paso. Ryan Burke had two goals in the win and Drake Morse, Eric Vitale, and Sutton Murray also added goals for the Mudbugs. Nolan Suggs made 36 saves in the loss for the Rhinos.
Bismarck 3 @ North Iowa 1 – Thanks to 22 saves from Hunter Garvey, the Bobcats snapped their losing skid with a 3-1 win in Mason City against the Bulls. The game was tied at 1-1 after one period as Alexander Palchik scored for the Bobcats with Max Scott answering for North Iowa. In the 2nd period, the Bobcats pulled ahead with a goal from Patrick Johnson. In the 3rd period, a goal from Julian Beaumont secured the 3-1 win. Mitch Day made 29 saves for the Bulls in the loss.
Johnstown 4 @ New Jersey 7 - Michael Young continued his dominance as he two goals and three helpers to lead the Titans to a 7-4 win over the Tomahawks. Anthony Calafiore also potted two goals and added an assist. Eric Charpantier and Levente Keresztes each had a goal and two assists of their own for the Titans. Joe Harney got on the scoresheet with a goal as well. Ethan Perrault, Johnny Ulicny, Anthony Galante and Will Moore all found the back of the net for Johnstown. Zakari Brice took home the win with 22 saves while Alec Rajalin-Scharp stopped 28 of 34 shots he faced.
Maine 2 @ Maryland 6 - The Maryland Black Bears took home their first win of 2023, defeating the Maine Nordiques 6-2. Adam Schankula led the way with two tallies and an assist. Samuel Stitz and Hunter Ramos contributed a goal and an assist for Maryland in the win. Sean Kilcullen and Brad McNeil also lit the lamp for the Black Bears. Nicholas Bernardo and Alexey Yarmulnik provided the offense for the Nordiques. William Hakansson got the win in the blue paint by making 23 stops. Thomas Heaney was dealt the loss despite making 43 saves.
Chippewa 5 @ Janesville 3 - A four goal third period propelled the Chippewa Steel to a 5-3 win over the Janesville Jets. Tomas Trend, Kazoo Sasaki, Carter Olson and J.J. Grainda all picked up goals in the final period of regulation for the Steel Kade Nielsen also contributed a goal for Chippewa. Connor Deturris and Gustav Portillo scored in the opening frame for Janesville while Ethan Begg bagged a goal in the final 20 minutes. Carter Wishart took home 31 saves and a victory in goal. Selby Warren stopped 39 shots in the defeat for the Jets.
Northeast 3 @ Philadelphia 2 - David Andreychuk scored with about four and a half minutes remaining in regulation to give the Northeast Generals the win over the Philadelphia Rebels by a score of 3-2. Jared Scott and Tyler Ramm netted goals in the opening frame to give Northeast a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Greg Spitznagel and Santino DiNubile picked up second period goals to bring things even after two periods. Paul Minnehan’s 26th assist setup Andreychuk’s goal to give the Generals two points in regulation. Toby Hopp went home with the victory in goal as he made 35 saves. Jack Fialkoff turned aside 29 opportunities.
