Friday Finals: Wranglers, Wilderness extend win streaks
Gustav Ozolins and the Minnesota Wilderness have won nine straight games.
Amarillo 3 @ Oklahoma 2 (OT) - Topi Puikkonen’s second tally of the night broke the 2-2 tie in overtime to give the Wranglers a 3-2 win over the Warriors. Roman Zap had Amarillo’s other goal while Alex Papaspryopoulios notched two helpers in the win. Drew Sutton and Nathan Ricky lit the lamp for Oklahoma. Luca Ganz denied 23 shots to pick up the win in the crease while Daniel Duris stopped 16 shots in the loss.
Minnesota 4 @ Chippewa 0 – The Wilderness continued to stay the league’s hottest team as they won their 9th straight game thanks to a 25-save shutout from Adam Prokop in a 4-0 win over the Steel. After a scoreless 1st period, the Wilderness jumped ahead 1-0 on a goal from Gustav Ozolins in the 2nd period. In the 3rd period, the Wilderness put the game out of reach with goals from Alexios Georgaklis, Oliver Band, and Daniel Astopovich. Steel goalie Carter Wishart made 33 saves in the loss.
Maryland 4 @ Danbury 1: The Black Bears extended their lead in the East Division after taking down the Jr. Hat Tricks 4-1. Maryland wasted no time early on as Jesse Horacek found the back of the net 5:58 into the contest. Adam Schankula doubled the lead later in the period. The Black Bears’ lead increased to three late in the middle frame off the stick of Evan Sofikitis, his 1st of the season. Alexios Georgaklis got Danbury on the board just minutes later, also his 1st goal of the season. Matthew Croxall found the back of the net early on in the 3rd to put the game out of reach and seal it. Owen Lepak picked up the win, stopping all but one of 21 shots faced while Miles Roberts kept out 30 in the loss for Danbury.
Johnstown 5 @ New Jersey 3: The Tomahawks came into tonight’s matchup without playing a game for 13 days but they showed no signs of rust as they took down the Titans 5-3 on the road. The two squads traded goals in the opening frame thanks to goals from Johnstown’s Justin Rapp and New Jersey’s Logan Renkowski. Once again in the 2nd the fans saw an even display of offense as Nikita Meshcheryakov found the back of the net for the Titans before Will Lawrence tied things up later in the period. In the 3rd the Tomahawks found an edge as Chase Sandhu, Will Moore, and Jaden Johnson scored consecutive goals. Meshcheryakov netted his 2nd of the game with under a minute remaining but it was too late for a comeback. Jacob Osborne finished the win with 36 stops while Zakari Brice kept out 28 in the loss.
Northeast 3 @ Rochester 4 (OT): The Jr. Americans conceded a two-goal lead in the 3rd period but were able to bounce back and beat the buzzer in overtime thanks to their leading scorer Matteo Disipio. Rochester had a one-goal lead through 20 minutes thanks to a score from Noah Vom Scheidt. Disipio and Scheidt extended the lead in the 2nd before Jett Otwell got the Generals on the board late in the frame. Ryan Remick and Sixten Jennersjo fueled a comeback for Northeast with tucks in the 3rd period before Gentile iced those hopes with his 10th goal of the season in overtime. Florian Wade and Cole O’Donnell combined for 29 saves in the win while Toby Hopp kept out 38 in the loss.
Minot 4 @ Austin 3: Despite a late offensive surge from the Bruins, the visiting Minotauros hung on to pick up their 3rd consecutive victory. Nicholas Sewecke and John Emmons provided goals in the 1st to give Minot a two-goal lead through 20 minutes. Niklas Ketonen extended the lead late in the middle frame before Gustav Noren solved Brady James minutes later. Sewecke netted his 2nd early on the final period to provide some cushion. Ocean Wallace and Austin Salani both found the back of the net with under two minutes remaining in regulation but the Minotauros and James fended off that final decisive goal. James finished the night with 23 saves while Trent Wiemken kept out 26 shots for the Bruins.
St. Cloud 2 @ North Iowa 3 (SO): Down a pair of goals with less than four minutes remaining, the North Iowa Bulls tallied a pair to force overtime and took down St. Cloud in a shootout. After a scoreless 1st, St. Cloud’s Tyler Dysart broke the deadlock with his 1st goal of the season. Midway through the 3rd the Norsemen got some insurance thanks to a score from Braden Panzer. Teddy Richardson and Jack Seaverson rallied the comeback with goals just 24 seconds apart. Ethan Lindahl scored the decisive goal in the shootout while his netminder Connor Graham kept out 5 of 7 shootout attempts and 33 shots in regulation to claim the victory. Ryan Manzella made 15 saves for the Norsemen.
Aberdeen 3 @ Bismarck 5: The Bobcats defended home ice in their 5th game at the VFW Sports Center this season, swapping spots with Aberdeen in the Central Division standings after defeating them 5-3. Both teams got out to a hot start offensively in the 1st as Patrick Johnson and Connor Farren both tallied goals for the Bobcats while Leonid Bulgakov tallied a pair for Aberdeen. Tamas Toth and Landon Fandel both tickled twine under three minutes into the 2nd for Bismarck. Matthew Wisener decreased that deficit once again for the Wings before Fandel found the back of the net again before 2nd intermission. A scoreless 3rd held a final score of 5-3 with the winning netminder being Stephen Peck with 24 saves. Adam Dybal kept out 36 for the Wings in the loss.
El Paso 1 @ Odessa 2 - Michael Kadlecik’s third period goal was the difference as the Odessa Jackalopes outlasted the El Paso Rhinos by a score of 2-1. Matvey Ivanov got Odessa on the board first with his third tally of the season. Eddie Shepler tied things up in the second period as he put home his fourth goal of the season.In the final frame Thomas Wright found Kadlecik for the eventual game winner. Quentin Sigurdson was victorious in the blue paint as he made 19 saves in the win. Kael Depape was saddled with the loss as he made 25 stops.
Lone Star 5 @ Corpus Christi 3 - Justin Kerr potted a pair of goals and added an assist as the Lone Star Brahmas took down the Corpus Christi IceRays by a score of 5-3. Antti Autere and Owen Kerr each had a goal and an assist for Lone Star. For the IceRays it was Dylan Jensen, Anthony Cafarelli and Cody Kempf as the goal scorers. Jack Wieneke finished the night with 28 stops while Bryant Marks was given the loss after making 17 saves.
Shreveport 6 @ Colorado 4 - It was a wild one as Shreveport made their first visit to Colorado as the teams traded seven goals in the opening frame. Marek Thompson got the Grit on the board first with his first of the season. Bryce Boucher and Hayden Nichol would each score and give Shreveport the lead. However the lead would not last long as Nicholas Paone and Wilder Jacober scored for the Grit. Then later in the period, Colin Vassallo and Nick Marino scored 59 seconds apart to give the Mudbugs the lead after one. After a scoreless second period, Jordan Gudridge tied the game at four with his second of the year for the Grit. Then Shreveport took the lead again with Ryan Burke’s sixth goal of the year and put the game away with a empty net tally by Marino. Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau made 30 saves in the win for the Mudbugs while Max Lacroix turned aside 39 shots.
Wisconsin 2 @ Anchorage 3 (OT) – Liam Beerman made 33 saves and Kade Shea scored on a breakaway in overtime as the Wolverines edged the Windigo, 3-2. Lukas Bellinger opened the scoring in the 1st period for Anchorage with Camden Markham answering for Wisconsin. In the 3rd period, Maxwell Martin scored for the Windigo to make it 2-1, but Anchorage had an answer late in the 3rd period from Jackson Stimple, which set up Shea’s heroics in OT. Wisconsin goalie Linards Lipskis made 29 saves in the loss.
Janesville 4 @ Fairbanks 6 – The Ice Dogs erased deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 as they got a hat-trick from Reece Cordray and scored the final four goals of the game in a 6-4 win over the Jets, which snapped a six-game losing streak. The Jets went ahead 3-0 in the 1st period thanks to goals from Noah Gibbs, Hayden Zimmerman, and James Taylor. Fairbanks made it 3-2 in the 2nd period with goals from Kyle Rohrer and Cordray. Before the period was over, Christian Venticinque scored for the Jets to make it 4-2. In the 3rd period, two more goals from Cordray and others from Jake Cameron and Gage Leonard secured the win.
Springfield 3 @ Kenai River 4 – Thanks to two goals from Kotaro Tsutsumi, the Brown Bears won their second straight game over the Jr. Blues in a 4-3 win on Friday. Tsutsumi scored in the 1st and the 3rd period and the Brown Bears also got goals in the 2nd period from Hayden Walters and Owen Hanson. Trey Jefferis scored two goals and Logan Sutton also scored for the Jr. Blues in the loss. Conor Sullivan made 30 saves in the win.
Maine @ Philadelphia - Postponed
