Friday Finals: Cyclones Run Winning Streak to Seven
by Camryn Connors, Sydney Cordova & Trevor Jolley
New Hampshire 1 @ Norwich 3 - The first period remained scoreless. During the second period, Nick Cox had the lone goal for the Jr. Mountain Kings with an assist from Auburn Burlison. The third period got started early with Norwich Sea Captains’ Aidan Raedy scoring a goal with help from Harrison Ranger and Jake Wilkerson. Ranger got a goal of his own with assists from Connor Gronewald and Glen Farner. Logan Niesen got the final goal of the game assisted by Quinten Olshan and Mason Payne. Charlie Donoghue made 44 saves for New Hampshire and Peter Alfano made 20 saves for Norwich.
Maine 3 @ Binghamton 9 - Edwin Peterson got a goal assisted by Skyler Tompkins and Brady Ernst for the Mustangs. Nolan Mix with an assist from Tristen May-Robinson tied the game in the first for the Woodsmen. In the second, Joshua Kauppinen with assists from Mix and Hugh Deinema gave the Woodsmen the lead. Maxim Lazo with an assist from Viktor Budik increased Wisconsin’s lead. Mix had another goal in the third with assists from Kauppinen and Deinema. Kauppinen had his second goal of the game with assists from Charles Murray and Mix. Patrick Bowser put another goal on the board for the Woodsmen with assists from Tegan O’Brien and Vincent Green. May-Robinson got an unassisted goal. Deinema finished the period with a goal assisted by Budik and May-Robinson. Otto Reinhart had 20 saves for the Woodsmen and Albert Ancinec had 44 saves for the Mustangs.
Wisconsin 8 @ Peoria 1 - Ethan Miller got the first period started early for Binghamton with a goal assisted by Bryce Yates and Malik Powell. Joey Roselli with help from Andrew Heath increased the lead for the Buzz. Jason DiMatteo got one more goal for Binghamton assisted by Miller and Griffin Gagnon. Cannon Gough with an assist from Daelan Hodgson put the Maine Nordiques on the board. Roselli got a goal assisted by Heath in the 2nd. Cannon Wensauer assisted by Brody Emond got another goal for the Nordiques. Carson Curry made a goal assisted by Miller for the Buzz. DiMatteo kept the momentum going for Binghamton with a goal assisted by Curry and Keegan Elliott. Heath got the seventh goal of the game for the Buzz assisted by Yates and Mason Wright. DiMatteo got a hat trick in the third with help from Miller. Emond added one more goal for the Nordiques with help from Carter Walls. Miller added one more goal in the period assisted by Curry. Ayden Linville made 19 saves for the Nordiques. Linville was taken out in the 2nd period and replaced with Gabe Pomerleau who made 24 saves. Chase Ebeyer made 17 saves for the Binghamton Buzz. Matthew Chernauckas was put in during the third for the Buzz making 22 saves for the Buzz as well.
West Bend 1 @ Rochester 4 - The first period of the game remained scoreless. Mike Sobaski put the Power on the board with an unassisted goal. Noah Gillette with an assist from Andrew Bastian tied up the game for the Grizzlies. Gavin Black put the Grizzlies in the lead with assists from Josh Wolf and Noah Joyce. Aidan Emerich added another goal in the 3rd assisted by Gillette and Ben Parent. Gillette had his second goal of the game with an assist from Emerich. Ben Glaesman had 30 saves for the Power while Riley Swanson had 22 saves for the Grizzlies.
Alexandria 1 @ Minnesota W 2 - The first period remained scoreless. Rory Kronick got an unassisted goal for the Wilderness in the second. Brady Haiskanen increased the Wilderness lead with an unassisted goal. The Blizzard put one on the board early in the third from Mason Buchanan with an assist from Eli Fletcher. Kyle Abrahamson had 29 saves for the Blizzard and Pierson Haislet had 33 saves for the Wilderness.
Tulsa 0 @ Texas B 7 - The Texas Brahmas went fracking as they steamrolled the Tulsa Jr. Oilers with a 7-0 win on Friday night. Joseph Crowley got the Brahmas on the board halfway through the first on a solo shot to notch his seventh goal of the year. Caden Michael doubled the Brahmas lead with a bury exactly five minutes later to increase the lead to 2-0. Patrick Garvey ended the first period with an unassisted tally for his first score of the year. Four other Brahmas found the back of the net throughout the night, including Henry Griffin and Charlie Wilson. Notable scorers also included Nikolai Meshkantsov, who buried his eighth goal to move to 21 points in just nine games played, and Jayani Benson, who scored his first goal of the year in the win. Texas goaltender Luke Romney has a relaxing evening in net, staying perfect with a perfect 15 saves on 15 shots. Tulsa goaltender Anderson Weimer made an exhausting 46 saves on 53 shots in the loss.
Austin 2 @ New Mexico 1 - Shots do not equal goals, a lesson the New Mexico ice Wolves found out the hard way as their 48 shot effort fell just short as the Austin Ice Bats claimed a 2-1 victory on Friday. The Ice Bats got on the board early in the first period with a goal from Daniel Sanna to put Austin up 1-0. Georgii Tokarskii buried a solo effort midway through the second period to double the lead for the Bats. The 2-0 lead was until late into the third period when Dantae Hunziker finally snuck one in to slice the Bats lead to one. Though some momentum came from the scoring chance, it was not enough as the Ice Wolves only scored on score on one of their 48 shots,
Mason City 3 @ Granite City 6 - The Granite City Lumberjacks used a solid 6-3 victory over the Mason CIty Toros to stay undefeated on Friday. After a slow first period, which saw the Lumberjacks score the game’s opening goal, the Jacks exploded for a four goal period, with strikes from Connor Miller, Ty Smith, and Parker Comstock, who scored back to back goals for Granite City. Mason City’s Marcus Fritel posted a single goal for the Toros in the second period to cut the lead to 4-1 before Seth Terhelli made it 5-1. Parker McInroy and Luca Salak then fought back to cut the lead to 6-3 in the third, but would be unable to mount the full comeback. Trent Peterson made 28 out 31 saves on the evening for the Lumberjacks, while Jonah Little had a big workload, making 41 out of 47 saves for the Toros.
Wausau 5 @ St. Louis 3 - St. Louis was singing the Blues as the lost 5-3 to the Wausau Cyclones on Friday night. The high scoring affair featured three lead changes, goals by eight different players, and very few penalty minutes. Early into the second, the Blues were winning 3-1, but the Jr. Blues were unable to stop the crescendo of the Wausau Cyclones, who scored four unanswered goals in their comeback victory, The night was busy for both goaltenders, especially St Louis goaltender Brooks Barofsky, who made 44 stops on 49 shots on the evening. Wausau goaltender Tanner Bonjemoor had an easier night, only needing to collect 20 saves on 23 shots to secure the victory.
Texas R 2 @ El Paso 1 - The Texas RoadRunners snuck past the El Paso Rhinos with a 2-1 victory on Friday evening. After a scoreless first frame, Kacper Gach converted on an unassisted chance to take the lead for the Rhinos early in the second period. However, Noble Cook tied it up shortly after for the RoadRunners at 1-1. The tightly defended affair remained tied until 30 seconds had passed in the 3rd period, when Cook scored his second of the night to give the RoadRunners the edge they would need to win. RoadRunner goaltender Hunter Houle was a near perfect 31 for 32 saves on the win, while Rhino goaltender Dylan Newton shared an unfortunate fate as his 23 stops on 25 shots was not enough to get the win.
Helena 5 @ Badlands 2 - The Helena Bighorns picked up a victory on the road against the Badlands Sabres Friday night. Helena opened the scoring late in the first period with a goal from Austin Uecker. Early in the second period, Thayne Costen found the back of the net for the Sabres to tie the game. A few minutes later, Patrick Gosselin put another point on the board for the Sabres making the score 2-1 heading into the 3rd period. Helena tied up the game a minute into the 3rd period with a short-handed goal from Finn Theriault. The Bighorns finally clenched the lead once again later on in the period with a goal from Kade Pareja. Brandon Mcilhany scored another goal for Helena just a minute later. Theriault ended the night's scoring with a short-handed empty net goal. Helena’s goaltender, Malik Johnson, saved 25 out of 27 shots, while Badlands’ goaltender, Lochlin Johnson made 47 out of 51 saves in the loss.
Yellowstone 0 @ Great Falls 12 - The Great Falls Americans were dominant in the outset against the Yellowstone Quake, scoring their first goal 1:25 into the competition and racking up five goals in the first period. The Yellowstone Quake was not able to recover, giving up four more goals in the second and two in the third. Blake Komforoske had two goals and one assist on the night and O’bey, Kennedy, and Orwig also contributed three points each to the Americans. The Yellowstone goalies faced a combined 56 shots on net with a final score of 12-0 for the Americans.
Gillette 4 @ Bozeman 3 (SO) - The Gillette Wild arose victorious in a nail biter of a game against the Bozeman Ice Dogs. The Wild kicked off the scoring 7 minutes into the first period with a goal from Hudson Fisher. 10 minutes later, the Ice Dogs’ Devin Bruns scored, tying the game. Tai Kontrac scored, breaking the tie for the Wild just a few minutes later. The second period was scoreless. Chase Hapka of the Wild scored 25 seconds into the 3rd period making the score 3-1. The Ice Dogs fought hard in the third period and were rewarded with two goals to tie the game. Neither of the teams scored in overtime forcing the game into a shootout. Gillete’s Max Arlt and Hapka both found the back of the net with their shootout goals giving the Ice Dogs a win on the road.
Sheridan 4 @ Butte 6 - The Butte Irish claimed a victory at home on Friday night against the Sheridan Hawks. The Irish were dominant in the first period, scoring their first goal about 4 minutes in and going on to score two more not long after. The Hawks scored their first goal of the night and the last of the first period about 10 minutes in. The Irish and Hawks both found the back of the net once in the second period making the score 4-2 for the Irish heading into the 3rd period. The Irish’s Kazden Stineff kicked off the scoring in the 3rd period with his 3rd goal of the night. The Irish scored their last goal of the night later on in the period. The Hawks put up two more points on the board at the end of the third, but they weren’t enough to surpass the Irish’s lead.Sheridan’s Daniel Shelden and Butte’s Loghan Webber both had an impressive three points on the night. The Irish’s netminder, John Simon, made 41 out of 47 saves, while Butte’s Tim Nanson had 38 out 42 saves in the loss.