Friday Finals: Bozeman continues winning streak
St. Louis goaltender Brendan Cobb stole the show in Peoria Friday night, recording an impressive 44 save shutout for the visitors.
Bozeman 7 @ Badlands 4: The Bozeman Icedogs scored thrice in the opening period, setting an offensive tone that would lead to a 7 goal victory over Badlands. Bentley Simcox scored twice to lead the scoresheet for Bozeman. Defenseman Luke Busher also added a goal and dished two helpers for the Icedogs. For the Sabres, Kael Delzer potted a pair of goals and added an assist. Carter Merritt also scored his first goal of the season for Badlands. In net, Collin Soderholm would take the victory making 18 saves. Brooks McLean took the loss in the blue paint making 36 stops.
St. Louis 1 @ Peoria 0: St. Louis goaltender Brendan Cobb stole the show in Peoria Friday night, recording an impressive 44 save shutout for the visitors. After a scoreless opening period, Michael Kennedy scored the one and only goal in the contest, burying it past the netminder unassisted just 47 seconds into the 2nd. A scoreless 3rd period meant a St. Louis victory over the Mustangs, breaking up their five-game winning streak. Joe Ambroffi took the loss in the blue paint, recording 14 saves.
Bay State 5 @ Northeast 6: In a back-and-forth offensive bout, Braeden Kennedy scored his 9th goal of the season to secure the 6-5 victory for Northeast over Bay State. All eleven goals were scored by different skaters, with Northeast holding the largest lead over the opposition. Northeast carried a 2-0 lead into the 1st intermission thanks to goals from Nolan Murphy and Sean Gorman. Bay State’s Brian Woak scored early to bring the game within one, but Zach Sinople and Caiden Hess’s tallies put Northeast ahead by three midway through the 2nd period. The Bobcats fought back to tie the game as Nate Mastrony, Michael Montague, and Isaiah Walter each lit the lamp for the visitors. Northeast’s Eddie Mulligan and Bay State’s Paul Johnson traded goals before the 2nd intermission, eventually followed up with Kennedy’s game-winning goal. Mason Joseph and D’Mar McCoy each spent time between the pipes for the Generals, McCoy taking the victory with 12 saves on 14 shots. Ben Di Fiore was dealt the loss in net, making 27 saves.
Louisiana 2 @ TX RoadRunners 5: The RoadRunners scored a trio of goals in the 3rd period from Samuel Bourdon, Eitan Geralnik, and Tyler Love to power past the Drillers by a final score of 5-2. Tim Marsico breached the deadlock and scored the only goal of the 1st period, netting his 10th of the season for Texas. The teams traded a goal a piece in the 2nd, providing Texas a one goal edge heading into the final slate. Josh Hrip found the back of the net for Louisiana in the 3rd, but it was not enough to match up with the RoadRunners’ late offensive surge. Hunter Hein secured the victory in net with 32 saves. Pavel Grishin, stopping 53 of 58 shots, was dealt the loss.
Oregon 4 @ Wausau 2: After trailing by a pair of goals midway through the 2nd period, the Oregon Tradesmen fought back and scored four unanswered goals to edge past Wausau 4-2. Jason Tenezaca had a great offensive performance for the Tradesmen as he scored the opening goal, the empty netter to seal the game, and also dished an assist. The other pair of goals came from Sam VanderHoeven both on the powerplay, recording his impressive 26th and 27th goals of the season. Anthony Adleman remained sturdy between the pipes, stopping 24 shots in his victory for Wausau. Mitch Miscevich was dealt the loss, making a total of 22 saves.
Mason City 2 @ Willmar 3: As the game remained at two goals apiece through two periods, Willmar’s Anthony Foster would score his 8th of the season and the eventual game decider 4:30 into the 3rd in the WarHawks 3-2 victory over Mason City. Shota Kaneko scored the lone goal in the 1st period to give Mason City an early lead. Jeremiah Konkel and Michael Sweetland deposited a pair of Willmar goals in the 2nd to give them back a 2-1 lead until Carter Newpower evened things up before the intermission for Mason City. Netminder Cooper Olsen had an impressive night in net for the victors, completing the victory with 33 saves. Erik Chaffe took the loss stopping 28 shots.
Austin 2 @ El Paso 8: Payne Pent led the offensive charge for El Paso, scoring a hat trick and adding an assist in their 8-2 win over the Austin Bruins. The Rhinos scored goals in all three periods, including other multi-point performances from Connor Thompson and Kaiden Hafele. Matthew Barnes, Reno Parker, and Caden Butler were the other El Paso goalscorers. For Austin, Dominic Toews and Coby Nostrant each lit the lamp to break up the shutout for netminder Thomas Payro. Payro would make 21 saves in the victory and dealt the loss was Brandon Shantz, stopping 56 shots.
Butte 2 @ Helena 5: While only winning by a final score of 5-2, Helena showed some offensive dominance in their victory over the Cobras as they put up 75 shots across the 60 minutes. All five Helena goals were scored by different skaters as Nick Cofer, Erik Gibboney, Samuel Feamster, Tylor Greene, and Andrew MacCallum each lit the lamp. Defenseman Wyatt Barton also dished a pair of assists for the Bighorns. Both Butte goals were contributed by Caelin Chinery, bringing his total to seven goals on the season. Caleb Cross provided an outstanding effort in net for Butte, keeping out a whopping 70 shots in the bout. Dylan Romanow was awarded the victory making 24 saves.
Gillette 15 @ Sheridan 0: Declan Young recorded a hat trick and one assist in Gillette’s dominant 15-0 rout over Sheridan. Sixteen Gillette skaters recorded at least one point in the contest, with notable five-point performances from Tucker Lien and Caleb Sanborn. Nine other skaters also had multi-point performances in their all around offensive surge against the Sheridan defense. Jake Turek put up a solid 21 saves in the shutout victory. Robert Allport and Thomas Kuriscak each spent time in Sheridan’s net, Kuriscak eventually taking the loss with 17 saves on 25 shots.
