Friday Finals: Hawks roll to 8th straight win
Rochester forward Joey Fodstad had two goals in a 9-1 win on Friday.
Gillette 3 @ Sheridan 9 - The NA3HL’s leading scorer, Jacob Cummings, had another big night as he recorded a hat-trick and two assists to lead the Hawks to their eight straight win in a 9-3 triumph over the Wild. After Gillette scored to open the game on a goal from Mason Hoffman, the Hawks rattled off eight straight goals by the end of the 2nd period to put the game out of reach. Cummings scored two of his three goals in the 1st period and Blake Billings and Zach Brydges also added 1st period goals. Cummings notched his hat-trick with the first goal of the 2nd period and Joe Teasdale, Nathan Gilleshammer, and Peyton Kesselhon also scored in the middle frame. Gilleshammer added another goal in the 3rd period for Sheridan, while Will Blake and Caleb Sanborn had the other Wild goals. James Downie made 24 saves in the win, while Luc Haggitt took the loss with 21 saves.
Rochester 9 @ Wausau 1 – Shane Soderwall made 25 saves and Joey Fodstad scored twice as the Grizzlies took care of the RiverWolves on Friday by a score of 9-1. Rochester opened up a 2-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Fodstad and Garrett Smith. The lead swelled to 6-1 in the 2nd period as Fodstad added his second goal and Justin Wright, Ethan Noonan, and Teejay Torgrimson also scored. Ben Cremers had the lone goal for Wausau. The Grizzlies cemented the game in the 3rd with three more goals from Kobe Pane, Matthew DeRosa, Tyler Huffer. Joseph La Forge made 39 saves in the loss.
Missoula 4 @ Bozeman 7 – Eric Thompson had two goals and an assist as the Icedogs defeated the Jr. Bruins, 7-4. After a scoreless 1st period, the Jr. Bruins went up 1-0 ln a goal from Kieran Christianson. The Icedogs responded with five straight goals to make it 5-1 as Blake Nerney, Kadyn Fennell, Cooper Walsh, Justin Hayward and Thompson all scored. Missoula tried to make a game of things with three goals in the 3rd period, which included another from Christianson and two from Mason Mowat, but the Icedogs secured the win with additional goals from Luke McKay and another from Thompson. Evan Wittchow made 41 saves in the win, while Will Hays took the loss with 28 saves.
Butte 2 @ Great Falls 3 (OT) – The Cobras resurgence pushed the Frontier Division leaders to the limit on Friday, but the Americans finally prevailed thanks to a 3-2 win in the dying seconds of overtime. The teams traded goals in the 1st period as Daniel Crutcher scored for Great Falls with Butte’s Quinn Nichols answering back to tie the game at 1-1. In the 3rd period, the Americans took a 2-1 lead on a goal from Harley Nyhuis, but the Cobras again had an answer as Hunter Howe tied the game at 2-2 with just over a minute remaining in regulation. In the overtime a shot from the point by Connor Doyle found its way through a screen for the game-winner. Vincent Marroni made 28 saves in the win, while Tommy Near made 48 saves in the loss.
