Saturday Scores: Helena Stays Unbeaten
by NAHL Writing Team
Vlad Zubriichuk helped Sheridan knock off Gillette on Saturday night
Minnesota W 2 @ Mason City 5 - The Toros found themselves up early and never looked back, as Mason City defeated Minnesota by a final score of 5-2. Pucks hit the back of the net early in the first period, thanks to back-to-back goals courtesy of Kellen Kantaris and Parker McInroy. Kaden Postal opened the scoring in the second period for the Wilderness, before McInroy quickly came back to net his second of the game and extend the Toros lead. Heading into the third, Teis Larsen scored, as Mason City looked to run away with the win. In a late effort to come back, Broden Fawcett scored to bring the Wilderness within two. However, Grant Harder would seal the deal for the Toros in the final two minutes to secure the victory. Goaltender Brooks Currie was lights out, stopping 26 of 28 shots in the win.
Wisconsin 4 @ St. Louis 5 (SO) - In a back-and-forth game at Affton Ice Rink, the St. Louis Jr. Blues closed it out in the shootout to narrowly defeat the Wisconsin Woodsmen 5-4. Goaltenders Lleyton Jaschke and Brooks Barofsky stopped 20 combined shots to leave the first period scoreless. Kyle Settles opened the scoring halfway through the second to put St. Louis on top. A pair of goals late from Hugh Deinema and Joshua Kauppinen saw Wisconsin take the lead to end the period. The Jr. Blues came out firing early in the third thanks to Jack Plager and Lonnie Land capitalizing on shots to regain the lead. However, it wasn’t safe for long as Daniel Svozil tied it again for St. Louis halfway through. A goal with 4:51 remaining from Jack Reuss saw the Jr. Blues thinking they were going to end it there, but Charles Murray netted one for the Woodsmen just 19 seconds later to even the score. Following a scoreless OT, St. Louis scored twice in the shootout to take the victory, putting on quite the show for the fans.
New Hampshire 7 @ Long Beach 0 - In a lopsided affair, the New Hampshire Jr. Mountain Kings defeated the Long Beach Sharks Saturday evening 7-0. Braedan Gagnon netted the first period’s lone goal, before New Hampshire erupted in the second. Luke Weir, Tommy Titone, Auburn Burlison, Noah Levesque, and Aidan Palmeter each scored their first goals of the season for the Jr. Mountain Kings to put them up big. Palmeter put one past the goaltender to cap off his three-point performance in the third period. A whopping 197 penalty minutes were handed out in the game, with a combined 12 powerplay opportunities. Charlie Donoghue was phenomenal in goal, stopping all 35 shots thrown his way to earn the shutout.
Wausau 7 @ Peoria 2 - Wausau entered Saturday night’s matchup hoping to build upon a 6-0 win in their opening contest of the season. They did just that in a similarly emphatic fashion. Owen Gohm scored a third-period hat trick while Micah Saxon dished out five assists in a 7-2 win over Peoria.
Binghamton 8 @ Maine 2 - Binghamton continued their winning ways on Saturday night against Maine. Jason DiMatteo and Ethan Miller each scored five points on the night, with DiMatteo scoring a hat trick. Goalie Chase Ebeyer stopped 32 of 34 shots to help the Buzz secure an 8-2 win.
Northeast 1 @ New Jersey 2 - Despite the Northeast Generals winning the 2023-24 season series, the New Jersey Titans kicked off the year with a 2-1 victory over their divisional rival. All three goals came in the second period with New Jersey opening the scoring off of a goal by Vladimir Zakharov just before Nicholas Brophy of the Generals responded to tie things up. The eventual game winner was scored under two minutes later as Juno Ryu put one home to propel the Titans to victory. Netminder Nicholas Gould was outstanding as he turned away 65 of the 66 shots he was faced with.
West Bend 1 @ Rochester 2 - The Rochester Grizzlies (1-1) captured their first win of the season in front of their home crowd Saturday night, beating the West Bend Power (1-1) 2-1 at the Rochester Recreation Center. A period and a half of hockey was played, and neither team had managed to put the puck in the net. Rochester was aggressive, slashing 16 shots on goal in the first period. When the two teams faced off on Friday, Rochester was shut out by West Bend Goalie Ben Glaesman, but this time West Bend's Owen Soderholm was tasked to defend the basket. With three minutes left in the second period, West Bend Forward Teagan Scheurer had to spin to avoid a hit and lost the puck to his teammate, West Bend Forward Jackson Hoem, who recovered and passed it out to West Bend Defenseman Monte Goold, who then dished it back to Hoem for the goal. West Bend led into the third period until Rochester Forward Noah Joyce swiped the puck away from an errant pass and scored the Grizzly's first goal of the season off of the breakaway. Knotted up at one apiece, the Grizzlies would take the lead thanks to another breakaway; this time, it was Rochester Forward Andrew Lahaie capitalizing on a 2-on-1 to make the game 2-1. The Grizzlies held off the Power the rest of the way, seizing their first win of the season in front of the Rochester faithful.
Willmar 1 @ Minnesota M 2 - The Minnesota Moose capitalized when it mattered most and snagged their first win in the NA3HL, defeating the Willmar Warhawks 2-1 on Saturday night at the Fogerty Ice Arena. The Moose scored two goals from their nine power plays against the Warhawks, a conversion rate equal to 22%, which would have ranked in the top five in the league last season. A small sample size, being the first game in the NA3HL for Minnesota, but a solid one. The Moose also had a solid showing from Goalie Dylan Posch, who defended 18 of 19 shots on goal and outlasted three power plays from the WarHawks. Willmar had a 14.8% power play conversion rate last season and scored 31 power play goals, which ranked 25th and 24th in the league, respectively, so special teams continue to be an area for improvement for the WarHawks. Henry Schultz netted the only tally for Willmar.
Alexandria 4 @ Granite City 5 - The Granite City Lumberjacks and Alexandria Blizzard exchanged blows in an offensive in-state showdown Saturday night, with Granite City coming out on top 5-4 at Sports Arena East. Between both teams, 81 total shots on goal were made in the contest, with 30 in the first period, 20 in the second, and 31 in the third. The Blizzard struck first with a Forward Ashton Collings goal three and a half minutes into the first period. Granite City answered back, scoring three unanswered goals from Forwards Seth Tarhell, Ty Smith, and Defenseman Justin Lesser. A second goal from Collings and Alexandria Forward Eli Fletcher tied the game, but Granite City Forward Easton Portner would reclaim the lead for the Lumberjacks with a goal just a minute later. Eight minutes into the third, a Forward Ben Petroskel goal put the game on ice for Granite City. Despite the offensive production, neither squad could produce during power plays. Alexandria went 0 for 6, and Granite City went 0 for 3. Although there was prominent offensive production, Granite City Goalie Nick Hansen stood out. In Hansen's first game as a Lumberjack, the goalie spent the whole game in the basket for Granite City and defended 40 of the 44 shots on goal he faced.
Bozeman 1 @ Great Falls 4 - Great Falls got off to a hot start on Saturday night, and didn’t look back. Zac Orwig and Ty O’Bey found the back of the net in the first period to take a two-goal lead. In the second, Great Falls added to their lead thanks to another goal from O’Bey and an earlier goal from Kennedy Easton. Bozeman scored later in the second period, but it was not enough. Kaden Rhyder saved 32 of 33 shots to clinch a 4-1 win on home ice.
Butte 4 @ Helena 8 - Hunter Coulombe got a goal in the first for Helena unassisted. Kade Pareja increased the Bighorns lead with a goal assisted by Mason Smith. During the second, Tucker Sarkisian got an unassisted goal for the Irish. Owen Gruener got a goal for the Bighorns assisted by Brandon Mcilhany. Kazden Stineff got a goal for Butte with an assist from Andrew Browe. Browe got an unassisted goal for Butte. Pereja got another goal for the Bighorns assisted by Cam Young. Clint Isakson scored a goal for Helena assisted by Marcus Ray. Finn Theriault was assisted by Caden Fenstein for the Bighorns. Elijah Elmer of the Bighorns got help from Kelton Chadwick and Chase Berg to score a goal. Loghan Weber got another goal for the Irish assisted by Browe. Young got another goal for Helena assisted by Chadwick and Pareja.
Yellowstone 1 @ Badlands 10 - The first period had three goals for the Sabres The first goal was by Thayne Coston assisted by Jordan Ryan. Patrick Gosselin scored the next goal of the period with assists from Ryan and Zach Vockler. Ole Svangstu scored the third goal in the period unassisted. The second period had a goal from Vockler. Ryan also got a goal in the second with assists from Gosselin and Vockler. Carter Kilen got an unassisted goal for the Sabres. Coston got another goal assisted by Ryan. During the third, Coston made another goal, completing the hat trick. Carter Kilen got a goal assisted by Tarin Perez and Payton Williams for the Sabres. Logan Verville of the Sabres got an unassisted goal to put the Quake on the board. Coston got one more goal with an assist from Keenan Howard. Nate Whitson made 70 saves for the Yellowstone Quake and Tagger Tamburo made 14 saves for the Badlands Sabres.
Gillette 2 @ Sheridan 5 - Vlad Zubriichuk got a goal in the first with an assist from Daniel Shelden. Josh Serino got the second period started for the Hawks early with a goal assisted by Elijah White. Serino got another goal in the third. Chase Hapka put the Gillette Wild on the board with a goal assisted by Dylan Peterson. Zubriichuk gets his second goal of the night. Hapka gets his second of the night with an assist from Max Arlt. Tyler Kemp gets another goal for the Hawks assisted by Vincent Leaf and Shelden. Noah Hacker was in net for the Gillette Wild having 35 saves and Tj Wonnacott for the Sheridan Hawks had 46 saves.
