Saturday Scores: West Texas Wrangles First Win

Badlands and Texas both completed sweeps with wins on Saturday (Photo Credits: Cover: Lyca Williams. Top: Mike Wolforth, Bottom: Lola Wade)

Texas R 12 @ Pelham 0 - In their second matchup of the weekend, the Texas RoadRunners took on the Pelham Prowlers at Pelham Civic Complex in Pelham, Alabama. Coming off of a 5-1 win, The RoadRunners kept the momentum going as they defeated the Prowlers 12-0 in an action-packed shutout–and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. The RoadRunners certainly came to play tonight as they got on the board early in the match. Michael Garrett scored the first goal of the night off a pass by Wyatt Mineheine in the first frame, who then scored an unassisted goal to end the period 2-0. The Roadrunners stayed busy in the following frames, scoring five goals in each. Michael Garrett and Logan Diskey led the offense for Texas with two hat tricks apiece. Nathan Pickett, Ronin Draffan, and William Heskett also contributed to the double-digit victory. The Prowlers struggled offensively tonight as they left each goal unanswered. Alexander Stafford started in the net for Pelham with 26 saves for the night, and Collin Jeffries finished the night in net. Callum Hartner defended the RoadRunners between the pipes with 15 saves.

West Texas 4 @ Austin 2 - The West Texas Wranglers secured their first win of the season against the  Austin Ice Bats at The Crossover ice arena in Austin, Texas. The South Division match brought a lot of intensity with the Ice Bats striking just 54 seconds into the game when Giswold fed Cardona, who slipped a perfect tip past the Wranglers’ goalie to open the scoring. But the Wranglers answered right back, Mathews buried a backdoor tap-in off a setup from Gavin Brown to tie things up 1-1 with 15 minutes still to play in the first. Riding that momentum, Mathews struck again, capitalizing on a turnover at the blue line and netting his second of the period to give the Wranglers their first lead of the season. The second period was a grind, with both sides trading chances and battling hard until Nathan Zane pounced on a loose puck in front and tapped it home, stretching the Wranglers’ lead to two with just five minutes left in the period. Riding the momentum, the West Texans struck again on the power play, Zane dished it back to Charlie Skinner at the blue line, and his shot was perfectly redirected by Sven Svensson taping it in to make it 4–1 Wranglers heading into the second intermission. The Ice Bats refused to go quietly in the third. Perardi strips the Wranglers’ goalie and feeds Guhnar Hillman in the slot for a wide-open shot that cuts the deficit to 4–2. But that was as close as they’d get, the Wranglers tightened up defensively and held firm the rest of the way, locking down their first win of the season. Between the pipes, Garret Lant stood tall for the Wranglers, finishing the night with 21 saves to backstop the team’s first victory of the season. On the other end, Tyler White battled hard for the Ice Bats, turning aside 30 saves, but ultimately took the loss as his team’s rally fell short.

Peoria 2 @ St. Louis 8 - The St. Louis Jr. Blues started their season with a huge victory over the Peoria Mustangs on Saturday evening. Cooper Palazzolo got the scoring started just under three minutes into the action. Wyatt Duke evened the game for Peoria with his first of the year just minutes later. In the closing minutes of the opening frame, Joseph Lopiccolo put St. Louis in the lead for good, making it 2-1. The final 40 minutes belonged to St. Louis as Mitchell Nappier, Caden Lindley and Jace Jordan all found the back of the net for St. Louis to blow the game open. Lindley notched his second of the game in the third period while Brady Cook and Teagan Lee also got on the scoresheet. Breyon Maroney would add a goal late for Peoria to make it an 8-2 final from Affton. Travis Visvadra earned the win in goal as he finished the night with 22 stops. 

Helena 8 @ Butte 1 - Chase Berg registered a hat trick and finished the night with four points as the Helena Bighorns capped off a dynamic weekend with an 8-1 win over the Butte Irish. Blake Chapman potted a pair of goals and added an assist for Helena while Bryer Lang and Garrett Lindsey and Austin Uecker each chipped in two assists. Ty Schell and G’Bari Mayers each found the back of the net for the Bighorns as well. Easton Langemo netted the lone goal for Butte in the loss. John Nanos was the winner in between the pipes as he turned aside 17 attempts. 

Sheridan 2 @ Badlands 4 - After these two teams opened up the season last night with the Sabres coming out on top 3-2, both teams were excited to square off again. It did not take long for the Sabres to strike first as Gaven Marx scored his first goal of the season on the power play, assisted by Maddox Harn. Later in the period, Andrew Arthur started the scoring off for the Hawks with his first of the season assisted by Vincent Leaf, and Jeff Slivon. The 1st period came to a close 1-1 with both teams playing fast-paced hockey. The second period started out right away with Jeff Slivon netting his first just a minute into the period. This goal was assisted by Vincent Leaf and Sean Harris. Sheridan continued to put on the pressure in the second but Sabres goaltender, Jackson Roethler stood on his head turning 18 shots in the period. As the scoreboard was running down for the second period Justin Reams got an unbelievable chance on the power play capitalizing unassisted to bring the game 2-2 going into the 3rd. The 3rd period was an all out battle with neither team giving an inch and chances going back and forth. Wyatt Pink of the Sabres scored his first of the season assisted by Dayton Niedert with less than three minutes remaining in the game. This was ultimately too much for the Hawks as Cole Schneider added an insurance marker on the empty net bringing the score to 4-2. 

Bozeman 3 @ Great Falls 2  - The first period was an active one with Jace Griffin of the Ice Dogs striking first. He was assisted by Steckelberg and Martin at 3:48 in the first period. In the second the Ice Dogs capitalized on their lead with a goal at 6:56 scored by Matthew Stamp and assisted by Trufant and Becker. Shortly after the Ice Dogs struck again at 5:05 with a goal by Alex Brullo assited by Trufant. The Ice Dogs took a 3-0 lead into the locker room at the end of the second period. In the third, the Americans scored their first goal of the game at 9:24 by Cooper Clouse with assists to Jaxon and Denis. The Americans pulled goalie Murphy with three minutes left which proved to be beneficial as Savage Jaxon scored with assists to Denis and Caron pulling the Americans within one. Despite the Americans best efforts, outshooting Bozeman 45 to 34, they fell 3-2 to the Bozeman Ice Dogs.