Saturday Scores: Americans Hand Bighorns First Loss

Alexandria 3 @ Mason City 2 - Alexandria sought their first win of the season on Saturday afternoon. And they achieved this goal in a close game on the road in Mason City. The Blizzard initially trailed in this game when Mason City forward Parker McInroy scored his first of the season at 12:48 in the first period. In the second, Alexandria found its scoring touch. Dylan Smidt, Caleb Waller, and Jacob Simpson found the back of the net as the Blizzard entered the third period with a 3-2 lead. It was a lead they would hold onto as they won the contest by a score of 3-2.

Norwich 4 @ Binghamton 2 - The Norwich Sea Captains earned a weekend sweep over Binghamton with a win on Saturday night. The Buzz fell behind early in this contest as Norwich raced to a 3-0 lead entering the third period. In the end, Norwich picked up a 4-2 win away from home, beginning the year with back-to-back wins. Mason Payne scored a goal and added an assist for the Sea Captains in this contest. Chase Leivian also picked up two points, dishing out assists on Norwich’s two second-period goals.

New Mexico 4 @ Louisiana 5 (OT) - New Mexico and Louisiana went back and forth on Saturday in search of the win. In the end, it was the hosting Drillers that came away victorious. However, Louisiana found itself in a hole early on. New Mexico took a 3-1 lead into the middle frame thanks to goals from Austin Bryant, Zak Wentworth, and Koen Burkholder. The Drillers got on the board in the second period but entered the third trailing 4-2. Louisiana stormed back in the third, though. Jake Bergstrom scored within a minute to bring the deficit to one. And Isaac Erickson scored his first of the season at 18:07 to force overtime. In the extra frame, Brendan Johnson scored his second of the game to complete the comeback for the Drillers.

Maine 0 @ Long Beach 4 - It was a battle of winless teams on Saturday as Maine traveled to take on the Long Beach Sharks. And it was the home team who skated away with the win. A scoreless first period gave way to a two-goal second period for Long Beach. Mason Jackson scored his second of the season while Jay Montgomery found the back of the net for the first time this year. Devon Fay and Sam O’Neil added to the lead as the Sharks shutout the Nordiques on Saturday. Maine goalie Gabe Pomerleau was busy as he faced 63 shots on goal, turning away 59. Long Beach puck-stopper Turner England didn’t have an entirely easy night in his own right. He faced 37 shots, but was able to keep them all out of the net.

Northeast 5 @ New Hampshire 4 - New Hampshire entered Saturday’s contest hoping to continue their winning ways to begin the season. However, they were not able to outlast Northeast. The Generals opened the scoring in the first period when Samuel Gusty scored within the first two minutes of the game. The second period saw the teams trade goals, totaling five in the frame. The game entered the third period tied 3-3. New Hampshire took the lead early in the third thanks to Braedon Gagnon. But Northeast scored goals to claim a 5-4 victory on the road. Cody Lightfoot scored two goals and an assist for the Generals to aid in their victorious effort.

Tulsa 1 @ Austin 4 - Tulsa hoped to win its first game of the season on Saturday night and they got off on the right foot thanks to Henry Pinkerman. The Tulsa forward scored his first of the season to give the Jr. Oilers a 1-0 lead. However, Austin did not trail for long. Arys Perardi scored to tie the game, and the Ice Bats eventually took the lead before the third period. Forward Guhner Hilman scored two goals in the third period to further the lead. Austin won its second game of the season, with Hilman leading the way with two goals and an assist offensively.

St. Louis 2 @ Rochester 1 (OT) - After a scoreless opening period, Jack Reuss of the Jr. Blues scored a goal assisted by Teagan Lee. Gavin Black tied it up in the third assisted by Sammy Johnson and Isaac Flatley. Lee ended the game in overtime with a goal for the Blues. Sawyer Torkelson of the Grizzlies made 17 saves while Travis Visvadra made 48 saves for the Jr. Blues.

Willmar 8 @ Minnesota M 2 - Toby Holtz got the period started for the WarHawks with an unassisted goal. Mason Wanka increased the lead for Willmar with a goal assisted by James Leach. During the second period, Gabriel Adams scored a goal assisted by Jett Wheeler for the WarHawks. Carson Wendorff made the lead 4-0 with an assist from Keegan Montgomery. The third was started with a goal from the Moose’s Will Biggar assisted by Reid Watson. Wanka added another goal assisted by Nathan Hinze. Hinze scored a goal assisted by Wanka. Ryan Salo of the Moose got a goal assisted by Gavin George. Adams made another goal for Willmar. Adams snuck one more goal in the net for the hat trick. Josh Mack made 31 saves for the Willmar WarHawks while Bennet Reinhard made 41 saves for the Minnesota Moose.

West Bend 3 @ Wisconsin 5 - Viktor Budik’s two goals propelled the Wisconsin Woodsmen over the West Bend Power. Oliver Schroeder kicked off the scoring with his fourth of the season. Goals by Wisconsin’s Maxim Lazo, Michael Anderson, and Joshua Kauppinen and West Bend’s Lucca Weinkauf and Jackson Hoem had the game knotted late in the third. Budik’s unassisted goal gave them the lead, and his empty netter clinched their third win of the season. 

Minnesota W 1 @ Granite City 3 - The Granite City Lumberjacks earned their second win of the season with three consecutive goals to kick off the game. Parker Comstock, Coltin Wassengeso, and Brayden Willis kicked off the scoring, while they and Granite City went 0-for-3 on the power play. Stratton Maas got the Wilderness on the board late, after they went 0-for-4 with the man advantage. Trent Peterson stopped 23 of 24 en route to a Lumberjacks victory.

Texas R 8 @ Atlanta 1 - Carson Spear’s hat trick helped the Texas Roadrunners easily defeat the Atlanta Capitals. Texas’ Noble Cook got his first three assists of the season, while Spear, Lucas Dyer, and Skylar Bawcom all had multi-point nights. Atlanta’s Jackson Black made 41 saves in relief, but the RoadRunners’ 64 shots were too much for the Capitals to handle. Riley Erickson got the lone goals for the Capitals.

Texas B 4 @ El Paso 1 - Donovan Bradford may have gotten the El Paso Rhinos on the board early, however the Texas Brahmas scored four unanswered en route to their second win. Connor Broderick saved 20 of 21 and Nikolai Meshkantsov’s two goals were enough to get the win. Joseph Crowley’s empty netter sealed the Brahmas’ 2-0 start.

Helena 2 @ Great Falls 3 - The Helena Bighorns lose their first of the season while the Great Falls Americans improve to 4-2 on the year. Helena went 2 of 4 on the man advantage with goals from Finn Theriault. Kennedy Easton, Sebe Perez, and Cal Laggis propelled the Americans to victory. They went 2 of 6 on the power play and Kaden Rhyder saved 32 of 34 to help the Americans to third in the Frontier Division.

Sheridan 9 @ Yellowstone 1 - Josh Serino and Vincent Leaf’s four point performances helped the Sheridan Hawks rout the Yellowstone Quake. Sheridan went 3 of 4 on the power play and TJ Wannacott saved 29 of 30. Serino finished his hat trick with a late third period goal with Leaf’s eighth assist. Max Goulden got the team’s only power play tally with his first of the season.

Gillette 2 @ Badlands 1 (OT) - Tai Kontrac was the hero as the Gillette Wild completed the home and home sweep of the Badlands Sabres with a 2-1 overtime win on Saturday night at Roosevelt Park Ice Arena. The first 20 minutes would provide a lot of goal chances, but zero goals, as Tate Cothern tallied 20 saves in the period for Gillette to keep the game scoreless. Midway through the 2nd, Chase Hapka netted a power play goal to put Gillette up 1-0 after 40 minutes. The lead would not last for too long, as Zach Vockler would tie the game seven minutes into the period. 60 minutes would not be enough to decide a winner, and the game went to overtime where Kontrac would be the hero on the power play to send Gillette home happy.  Cothern would tally 45 saves in the win, where Lochlin Jackson tallied 28 in the loss for Badlands.

Butte 1 @ Bozeman 5 - Four point nights from Devin Bruns and Andrew Kaunas powered the Bozeman Icedogs to a 5-1 win over the Butte Irish on Saturday night. In the first period, Bruns would net the first goal of the night with an assist from Kaunas to put Bozeman up after 20 minutes. In the 2nd, power play goals from Kaunas and Lex Steckelberg put Bozeman up 3-0 after 40 minutes. In the 3rd, Kaunas would net his second power play goal of the night to put Bozeman up 4-0. Andrew Browe would get one back for Butte on a penalty shot, but 10 seconds later, Kaunas would finish off his hat trick and put Bozeman back up by 4. Jack Ryan tallied 30 saves in the win, while Logan Hunter tallied 32 in the loss.

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