Saturday Scores: Ice Bats Win Fifth Straight
by Camryn Connors & Trevor Jolley
Perardi and the Ice Bats have won back to back games against the Brahmas
Austin 3 @ Texas B 2 (OT) - The Austin Ice Bats picked up the 3-2 overtime win on Saturday to complete the sweep of the rival Texas Brahmas. Both teams got on the board in the first, with Nikolai Meshkanstov potting his 22nd goal of the year for Texas and Ilja Birjuk depositing the first goal of his Ice Bats career for Austin. Chase Forry continued his success against Austin with his 20th goal of the night and third of the weekend to put Texas up by one in the second period. However, that lead was erased by Georgii Tokarskii, who scored his 13th goal of the season for Austin to knot the game up at two. Arys Perardi had the answer for the tie as he slotted the last puck of the game to secure the win for Austin. Luke Romney started the first 36 seconds of the game for Texas, but was forced off the ice less than a minute into the third period without ever seeing a shot. Connor Broderick took over in relief for Romney and made a solid 33 saves on 36 shots for Texas in the loss, but Bryson Frazee one-uped his opposite-team counterpart as he made 20 saves on 22 shots to lock in the win for Austin.
Granite City 3 @ Mason City 5 - Offense was the name of the game in rural Iowa as the Mason City Toros topped the Granite City Lumberjacks in a 5-3 victory on Saturday night. Both sides got to their game early with a single first period goal. Thomas Gerum opened the scoring with his seventh tuck of the year for Mason City just under halfway through the first frame, while Marcus Fritel responded with his 12th marker of the year for Granite City late in the first to tie things up at one a piece. The second frame saw the most back-and-forth action of the night with a pair of lead changes in the period alone. TJ Gibson and Weston Bohiman sandwiched a pair of goals for Granite City between Mason City’s own pair from Gerum and Caleb Alderson. Mason City’s Fritel did not only steal the show in the third, but also the hats of the Mason City fans as he found the back of the net two more times to complete the hat trick and secure the comfortable win for the Toros. Brooks Currie had a steady but well balanced diet on the night, making 33 saves on 36 shots for Mason City, while Nick Hansen conceded more goals on less attempts with 18 saves on 22 shots for the Lumberjacks
West Bend 5 @ Rochester 0 - Not many more teams were more appropriately named than the West Bend Power as they picked a powerful 5-0 shutout win over the Rochester Grizzlies on Saturday night. It was an offensive Power party on the evening as West Bend sent 39 shots on net to accrue their five goal night. Jace Fitzgerald got West Bend on the board in the first period to put the Power up by one. It did not take long for Trace Shumlas to open his Power account, as he scored his first goal in his first game on his first shot for West Bend. Mike Sobaski followed suit for the Power as his second period bury put West Bend up three-to-nothing. Not that there ever was any, but Jackson Hoem and Mike Sobaski smashed any chance Roschester had in coming back on the evening as their pair of goals proved to accumulate an insurmountable lead. Austin Durkop made 29 saves on 34 shots before Riley Swanson took over to close the final minutes of the game in the loss for Rochester, but it was Adam Prokop that was spotless on the evening making a perfect 30 saves on 30 shots to earn the first star of the game in the win for West Bend.
St. Louis 1 @ Wausau 8 - The Wausau Cyclones had St Lous singing the (Jr.) Blues as they dominated in the 8-1 win on Saturday night. Wausau found goals on the sticks of seven different scorers on the evening. The exhaustive list of Wausau scores includes Eiji Hoffman, Brady Knutsen, Jake Garrow, Brandon Piwko, Landon Bechtolt, Frank Goodman and Davis Polifka. On the opposing bench, the not-so-exhaustive list of scores for St. Louis included Lucas Lange. On the bright side for Lange, his tally was his second of the year for the Jr. Blues, as he ended his seven game goal-scoring drought. St. Louis did find themselves ahead in one category on the statsheet, but the category did happen to be penalty minutes, with a eye-watering 29 minutes, especially compared to Wausau who only committed a measly 16 minutes. After a stellar Friday night between the pipes for St. Louis’ Travis Vivrada making 24 saves on 24 shots, Vivrada replicated his save count with 24 more saves, except the 24 saves were on a total of 32 shots in the Saturday night loss. Tanner Bonjenoor had an answer for just about everything as he made 19 saves on 24 shots to send the Cyclones singing with the win.
Minnesota M 5 @ Alexandria 6 - The Alexandria Blizzard picked up a win at home over the Minnesota Moose. Minnesota’s Reid Watson kicked off the night’s scoring, netting a goal just 13 seconds into the game. Easton Simpson followed suit with a goal of his own 3 minutes later. The Blizzard retaliated not long after with Connor Zgoda, John Dube, and Eli Fletcher all finding the back of the net making the score 3-2 at the end of the first. In the second period, Minnesota reclaimed the lead with goals from Simpson and Watson. Alexandria made a comeback in the third with goals from Dube, Fletcher, and Zach Benson. Kaden Milles managed to get the Moose within one with a power play goal. Despite Minnesota’s efforts, Alexandria walked away with a 6-5 victory.
Minnesota W 5 @ Willmar 2 - The Minnesota Wilderness defeated the Wilmar WarHawks 5-2 Saturday night. The WarHawks opened the scoring with goals from Aidan Callaghan and Nathan Hinze late in the first period. Minnesota managed to cut the deficit to one with Tyler Starich netting a goal with a little over 2 minutes left in the period. The Wilderness came out strong in the second period with Simon Davidson finding the back of the net just 14 seconds in. Christian Houser and Kaden Rocheleau both netted goals later on in the period making the score 4-2 at the end of the second. In the third period, Jake Hodd-Chlebeck scored to secure Minnesota’s 5-2 victory.
New Mexico 9 @ El Paso 4 - The New Mexico Ice Wolves secured a dominant win over the El Paso Rhinos Saturday night. Jake Bamback opened the scoring for El Paso, but not long after New Mexico’s Issa Murakami tied the game on a power play. El Paso regained the lead with goals from Donovan Bradford and Bamback. New Mexico’s Zak Wentworth scored late in the first to cut the Rhinos’ lead to 3-2. New Mexico took control in the second period, with Dantae Hunziker tying the game and Brant Tiedeman giving the Ice Wolves the lead. Hunziker, Liam Mooney, and Wyatt Minehine all added goals, while Jacob Mish netted a goal of his own for El Paso, leaving New Mexico ahead 7-4 heading into the third. The Ice Wolves sealed their 9-4 victory in the third period with Murakami and Mooney each scoring on the power play.
Helena 8 @ Gillette 3 - The Helena Bighorns claimed a decisive 8-3 victory over the Gillette Wild on Saturday night. Trey Pareja opened the scoring midway through the first period to give Helena the early lead, but Hudson Fisher and Christopher Lang retaliated back quickly for Gillette. Helena took over in the second period, starting with a power-play goal from Finn Theriault just under two minutes in. Austin Uecker added another goal to regain the lead for the Bighorns, but Riley Schmidt answered back for Gillette to tie the game at 3-3. Helena dominated the third period. The Bighorns’ Pareja scored his second of the night just 57 seconds in, followed by Hunter Coulombe increasing the lead minutes later. Pareja completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal, and Brandon McIlhany added another empty-netter shortly after. Uecker closed out the night's scoring with 42 seconds left in the game, sealing the Bighorns’ strong 8-3 win over the Wild.
Sheridan 4 @ Great Falls 2 - The Sheridan Hawks were able to earn a weekend split against the Great Falls Americans with a 4-2 decision on Saturday night. Vlad Zubriichuk opened the scoring in the first period. The teams would each grab two goals in the second period with Kiefer Dunham and Zach Longnecker scoring for Sheridan with Garren Narvaez and Aiden Kennedy finding the back of the net for Great Falls. Vincent Leaf added insurance late for the Hawks as they got out of town with an important two points in the standings. TJ Wonnacott was sensational with 48 stops. Patrick Forsythe finsihed the evening with 31 saves.
Badlands 5 @ Bozeman 3 - The Badlands Sabres got a win away from home as they knocked off the Bozeman Icedogs 5-3. Charlie Lorbiecki netted his 5th of the year to give the Sabres the lead first. After Baron Masopust tied it for Bozeman, Zach Vockler notched his 20th goal of the season and it was followed up by Kyyan Jahner to increase the Badlands lead. Devin Bruns and Sam Trufant helped the Icedogs storm back to tie the game in the third period but it was Thayne Coston who netted the eventual game winner with under five minutes to play. Gaven Marx added an empty net tally to secure the win. Oger Hunter was the winner in goal by stopping 27 of 30 shots. Brett DeVincent suffered the loss in goal, stopping 39 shots.
Yellowstone 0 @ Butte 7 - Easton Langemo led the way with four points including a goal and three helpers as his Butte Irish routed the Yellowstone Quake 7-0. Bobby Anselmo had two goals and an assist while Kazden Stineff had a goal and two assists of his own. Keegan Adams, Toby Kerr and Andrew Browe all had a goal and an assist for the Irish. Loghan Weber chipped in three assists for the winners. Tin Manson denied all 30 shots fired in his direction as he earned the shutout in goal. Hayden Laforet and Matthew Neeser combined for 66 saves.
