Friday Finals: Wild Take Down Sabres

Binghamton 2 @ New Hampshire 4 - The New Hampshire Jr. Mountain Kings started off Friday in the 3HL on home ice with an early afternoon start time with winning on their minds. The club hosted the Binghamton Buzz for a one-of-two weekend slate at Delta Dental Arena. To start off the first 20 minutes, Brady Plante would open the scoring for the home team in the first 1:15 minutes of play from a setup by Talon Schackman. Then ten minutes later into the first period, Schackman lit the lamp himself and made it two-nothing from a feed by Jacob Landry. But the Buzz weren't going to let a two-goal trail slide before the first intermission buzzer, as Jaylen Nurse would cut the lead in half on the power play. For the second, the Mountain Kings would go right back to work. In the first minute of action, Schackman would muster another goal to his collection and bring back the two-goal lead again. After that, the scoring subsided until the final minute dawned, when Jacob Landry tucked one in past Dalton Elliott to give New Hampshire some insurance. The insurance wouldn't be needed, as the home team did an excellent job at holding off the visiting foes from tying or taking the lead. However, they did let their guard down for the last 24 seconds of play, when Andrew Jazwin wristed a beauty past Risdon Baynard-Fernhall to call it a game. Game one of this weekend is in the books for both teams, as the Mountain Kings take it with a final score of 4-2. New Hampshire outshot Binghamton 32 over 14 shots.

Carolina 4 @ Atlanta 2 - The Carolina Rage defeated the Atlanta Capitals 4-2 tonight in a high-energy contest at Atlanta IceForum in Duluth, Georgia. The Rage certainty came to play tonight as they outscored the Capitals 60-31. Riley Morton gave the Capitals the early lead with a goal scored in the first minute of the contest, but the Rage answered with two goals of their own scored by Isaac Emmerich and Connor Kelly. Carolina secured the win in the middle frame with another pair of goals by Roman Brown and Demitrios Camene. Atlanta fought back in the second with a goal by Mike Mcquigg, but it was not enough to make a comeback. Despite the loss, Devin Diller had a productive night between the pipes for Atlanta with 56 saves; Mason Orr defended Carolina’s win with 29 saves.

Peoria 1 @ Rochester 11 - The Peoria Mustangs traveled to Rochester to play the Rochester Grizzlies. Baylor Stebbins would score early in the contest to claim the lead for the Grizzlies. Konnor Goclan and Trenton Fore picked up the assist. Soon after Mason Decker would score two consecutive goals for the Grizzlies making the lead three. Ole Fevold, Zaden Brua, Trenton Fore, and Andrew Bastian each picking up an assist. To end the period Brett Ludvigsen would extend the lead to four.  Trenton Fore getting his third assist and Andrew Bastian picking up his second. Early in the second period, Brendon Miller would put the Mustangs on the board, assisted by Nathan Pleva. About half way through the second Baylor Stebbins would score his second goal of the game. Konnor Goclan and Cooper Johnson picked up the assist. Mason Decker would finish the hattrick soon after, assisted by James Korpi and Sawyer Zaruba. With just 1 second left in the period, Baylor Stebbins would finish off his hattrick as well, assisted by Rylan Schultz and Konnor Goclan picking up his third of the contest. Going into the final period up 7-1, Mason Decker would put two more in the net, assisted by Ole Fevold, Zaden Brua, and Andrew Bastian got an assist on both goals. Brett Ludvigsen would score his second, assisted by Ole Fevold. Finally Trenton Fore would score being assisted by Baylor Stebbins. Making the final score 11-1 in favor of the Rochester Grizzlies.

Alexandria 3 @ Mason City 4 - The Mason City Toros edged the Alexandria Blizzard 4–3 on Friday night in a tight West Division showdown. Alexandria struck first less than a minute into the game when Blake Breiland scored, but Mason City quickly responded with Blaze Bauer’s goal to even things up. The second period saw both teams trading blows, with Caleb Waller and Kaden Roness tallying for the Blizzard, while Luke Gustafson and T.J. Gibson answered for the Toros to keep the game tied. In the third, Mason Buchanan delivered the game-winner at 12:19, lifting Mason City to victory and improving their record to 2–0–1 on the young season.

Austin 7 @ West Texas 2 - The Austin Ice Bats powered past the West Texas Wranglers 7–2 on Friday night, using a dominant third period to seal the win. Austin jumped out early with goals from Matthieu LeBlanc and Sol Levy in the opening frame, though Chase Mathews answered for the Wranglers to make it 2–1 after one. The teams traded tallies in the second, with Dylan Jimenez scoring for Austin before Nathan Zane responded for West Texas. The Ice Bats then took over in the final period, erupting for four unanswered goals. Jake Bamback, Wynn Giswold, Aiden DeLuna, and Cayden Reamer each found the back of the net to put the game out of reach. With the victory, Austin improved to 5–1 on the season while the Wranglers dropped to 2–3–1.

Wausau 7 @ Wisconsin 6 - The Wausau Cyclones erupted for seven goals to stun the Wisconsin Woodsmen 7–6 on Friday night in a wild Central Division matchup. Wisconsin appeared to be in full control after a five-goal first period, with Tyler Osborne scoring twice and helping the Woodsmen build a commanding 5–1 lead. But the Cyclones roared back, striking three times in the second period from Jackson Maddock, Eiji Hofmann, and Mario Savino to cut the deficit to one. Wausau then completed the comeback in the third, as Lucas Mankoff, Brady Knutsen, and Elijah Von Gunten all found the back of the net in the final minutes. Despite a late goal from Wisconsin’s Tristan Pownall, the Cyclones held on for the 7–6 victory.

New Mexico 8 @ Tulsa 3 - The New Mexico Ice Wolves took an 8-3 win against the Tulsa Oilers tonight in their first matchup of the weekend. The Ice Wolves got on the board first with a goal by Ryan Hoogsteen in the opening frame. The Oilers responded with a point thanks to Chase Boswell, but the Ice Wolves came back to end the period 2-1. Things heated up in the second frame, with Hoogsteen, Zachary Polkes, and Caleb Debruyne each earning a point for New Mexico; on the other end, Willy Fischer and Caleb Gamboa scored for Tulsa. The Ice Wolves secured the win in the final frame with Hoogsteen, Christopher Mason, and Grant Sexton. Joshua Middleton helped secure the victory for the Ice Wolves with 27 saves in net, and Jack Salverson defended the Oilers between the pipes with 38 saves.

West Bend 1 @ St. Louis 6 - The West Bend Power faced the St. Louis Jr. Blues at Affton Ice Rink in St. Louis, Missouri, where the Jr. Blues took the win 6-1. The Jr. Blues got on the board first after Jace Jordan scored off of a pass by Niko Bezzole for the only goal in the opening frame. St. Louis secured the win in a busy second period with four goals scored by Brady Cook, Lonnie Land, Jack Reuss, and Nicholas Morgan. Brody Josselyn scored the Power’s only point of the night in the second off of a pass by Cooper Hedin. Caden Lindley ended the night for the Jr. Blues with a goal in the final frame assisted by Joseph Lopicollo and Land. Ben Knutson had 34 saves in the net for West Bend tonight. Travis Visvadra defended the Jr. Blues in net with 22 saves to help secure the victory.

Badlands 2 @ Gillette 5 - The Badlands Sabres took a trip to Gillette to play the Wild. The scoring would start seven minutes into the game with Joshua Sauro scoring, being assist Dominic Arndt to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. The Wild would score again before the end of the first period. Peyton Marty scoring and Brayden Waters and Michael McKernan picking up the assist. About half way into the second period the Wild would score again, Beau Delich scoring on the short handed goal, Dylan Peterson and Caden Graham picking up the assists. Not even a minute later the Sabres would respond with a goal of their own, Gavin Marx scoring on the powerplay, assisted by Maddox Harn and Patrick Gosselin. With less than a minute remaining in the second period, the Wild would score on a powerplay of their own. Brady McGinn putting the puck in the back of the net, Brayden Waters picks up his second assist of the goal and Caleb Johannes gets his first. The Sabres would answer five minutes into the final period, Rhylan Olson scores, Kyyan Jahner and Ethan Seanor get the assist. The Wild would answer again with the dagger, Michael McKernan scores, Dominic Arndt and Dylan Peterson both picking up their second assist of the game. The Wild defeat the Sabres 5-2 in Gillette.

Sheridan 4 @ Yellowstone 0 - The Sheridan Hawks go on the road to challenge the Yellowstone Quake. The first period is very quiet outside of a penalty on the Quake, but they successfully defend the powerplay and go into the second period tied up 0-0. Not even two minutes into the second period, the Hawks kick off the scoring, Max Krueger scores his second goal of the season, assisted by Vincent Leaf getting his fifth assist of the season and Connor Brown getting his first. Elijah Farris would score eight minutes later for the Hawks extending the lead to two, Sean Harris picks up the assist. With just one minute left Vincent Leaf scores his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Max Krueger and Connor Brown. Vincent Leaf would score again in the third period, assisted by Max Krueger once again to end the game. The keeper for the Hawks, Wyatt Knott, finishes with a clean sheet on the night. The Sheridan Hawks shut out the Yellowstone Quake 4-0.

Great Falls 2 @ Helena 3 (SO) - The Helena Bighorns edged the Great Falls Americans 3–2 in a shootout Saturday night after a back-and-forth battle. Great Falls opened the scoring late in the first period when Cooper Clouse struck unassisted, but Helena answered on the power play just 84 seconds later as Blake Chapman converted a setup from Caden Feinstein. Mason Smith’s second-period tally gave the Bighorns their first lead, only for Tallon Caron to pull Great Falls even midway through the third off a feed from Clouse. After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout where Helena’s Chase Berg netted the lone goal, while Americans goalie Kaden Rhyder turned aside two attempts. Bighorns netminder Andrew Blake stopped all three Great Falls shooters, sealing the victory for Helena.