Sunday Wrap-Up: Wilderness, Warriors, Tomahawks sweep
Wichita Falls forward Adisen Brueck had two goals and an assist in a weekend sweep of Amarillo (cover photo by Dave Harwig).
Kenai River 2 @ MN Wilderness 3 (SO) – The Minnesota Wilderness picked up their third win of the weekend, as they edged the Kenai River Brown Bears in a shootout on Sunday, 3-2. The 1st period was all Brown Bears, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead, courtesy of goals from Morgan Winters and Brendan Hill. The Wilderness turned the tables in the 2nd period as they knotted to game at 2-2 thanks to goals from Mikol Sartor and a power play goal from Jacob Badal. After a scoreless 3rd period and overtime periods, the game would be decided in a shootout. As the last shooter of the six combined for both teams, Badal found the back of the net for the Wilderness to pick up the win and extra point, giving them their third straight win of the weekend. Wilderness goalie Kaleb Johnson made 32 saves in the win, while Andrew Rose was solid in the loss with 41 saves.
Amarillo 0 @ Wichita Falls 3 – Warriors goalie Owen Bartoszkiewicz stopped all 39 shots that came his way for his third shutout of the season and 7th straight win as the Warriors picked up their 9th straight win overall, shutting out Amarillo on Sunday, 3-0. The entire game was a goalie duel until Wichita Falls broke through in the 2nd period thanks to a power play goal from Jackson Salt. Late in the 3rd period, Amarillo pulled goalie Hunter Garvey for an extra attacker, but two empty-net goals from Carter Korpi and Adisen Brueck secured the 3-0 win. Garvey made 23 saves in the loss for the Bulls.
Johnstown 2 @ Maryland 1 - The Johnstown Tomahawks secured their 4th straight win as they came away with a 2-1 win on Sunday afternoon in Maryland against the Black Bears. After a scoreless 1st period, Daniel Tkac found the back of the net off the pass from Will Margel, finally breaking the ice almost halfway through gameplay to give the Tomahawks a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period. In the early stages of the 3rd period, Will Margel got his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-0 for the Tomahawks. Late in the 3rd period, Maryland called a timeout then pulled goaltender Michael Morelli for the extra-attacker to resume play. The sixth man on the iced paid off for the Black Bears as forward Josh Nixon cut the Tomahawks lead in half with only 2:06 remaining to make the score 2-1. Maryland pulled Morelli yet again in an attempt to force overtime, but the clock reached zero and the Tomahawks would be headed home with another four-point weekend sweep against the Black Bears. Sam Evola ended the game with 35 saves on 36 shots faced to pick up the win.
Danbury 5 @ Maine 6 – The Nordiques came from behind to pick up a 6-5 win in the rubber match of a three-game series against Danbury. Maine jumped out to a 1-0 lead courtesy of an early goal from Stefan Owens. Danbury had an answer in the form of three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead as Shane Murphy, Alex Krause, and Ben Biester all lit the lamp. The Nordiques then got goals from Cannon Green and Tristan Fasig midway through the 2nd period to knot the game at 3-3. Before the period was over, Krause added his second of the game for Danbury and Aidan Connolly scored for Maine to make it a 4-4 game. In the 3rd period, the Nordiques took the lead for good as Patrick Schmiedlin scored and Owens added his second goal of the game. Jake Hewitt scored late for Danbury, but it would not be enough. Tyriq Outen made 29 saves in the win, while Edward Nordlund made 37 saves in the loss.
