Friday Finals: Blizzard Shock Lumberjacks with Comeback
by Sydney Cordova, Josh Frojelin & Michael Seitz
The Rhinos took down the Drillers in a shootout.
El Paso 5 @ Louisiana 4 (SO) - El Paso defeated Louisiana 5-4 in a shootout last night. The Rhinos rode a four-goal second period to the victory. Louisiana opened the scoring on the power play with under two minutes remaining in the opening frame. It was Brendan Johnson scoring his ninth goal of the season. The second period opened as the first ended. This time Alexande Boyd grabbed his fifth tally of the season to push the Driller lead to two. El Paso finally broke through halfway through the middle frame as Jacob Mish pulled his team within one on the power play. The Rhinos continued to push and were rewarded with a pair of additional goals in the next four minutes. Joseph Gutierrez was credited with both tallies, his first two of the year. The exciting second ended with Louisiana’s Jake Bergstrom’s eight goal of the season to tie the game and Donovan Bradford’s sixth of the campaign to give El Paso the lead back with just six seconds to play. The Rhinos took a 4-3 advantage into the third period. Louisiana did not backdown and found themselves back on the powerplay midway through the final 20 minutes. It was once again Johnson scoring his team-leading 10th goal of the year to tie the game at four. The marker would be enough to force overtime where both goaltenders stood their ground to push the game to a shootout. Nathan Graybill stopped 32 shots for El Paso while Finn Willson made 29 saves for the Drillers. Derrick Pedersen played hero for El Paso in the fourth round of a previously scoreless shootout to bring home the extra point for El Paso. The shootout defeat was only the second of any kind this year for Louisiana while El Paso picked up their eighth total point in 12 games.
New Hampshire 1 @ Maine 2 (OT) - Maine outlasted New Hampshire in overtime on the back of goaltender Gabe Pomerleau. Both goaltenders stole the show in Lewiston combining for 71 total saves on 74 shots. The Nordiques broke the ice late in the first period on the power play. Brody Emond netted the opening goal to extend his team lead to eight over just 14 games. Pomerleau and Jr. Mountain King goaltender Charlie Donoghue continued to shine, keeping the score at 1-0 after 40 minutes. New Hampshire finally found the back of the net in the back half of the third period. Gabriel Leclerc’s first goal of the year tied the game for New Hampshire. The teams headed to overtime knotted at one. Maine found the winner in overtime as Jaxson Sardinha won it for the Nordiques at 1:47. The goal was Sardinha’s first of the season. Pomerleau stopped 41 shots in the win while Donoghue stoned Maine 30 times. Maine moves to 12 points on the year and fifth place in the East Division while New Hampshire’s one point pushes them to sole possession of third place with 18 points.
New Jersey 3 @ Binghamton 6 - Binghamton continued to roll, taking down New Jersey 6-3. Things began well for the Titans, however, as Connor Kelly opened the scoring 11:33 into the first period. The lead was short lived as Ethan Miller scored his 17th goal to tie the game. The tally pushed Miller to a team and NA3HL lead in goals with teammate Jason DiMatteo. DiMatteo grabbed the lone assist on the goal to push his 2024-25-point total to 29 while Miller’s jumped to 35. Binghamton took the lead heading into the first intermission thanks to Carson Curry’s fourth of the year. The Buzz continued to plug away scoring four more goals in the middle period. Joey Roselli found his ninth of the season just 3:13 into the frame. Philip Zivanovic and Preston Peterson struck next each collecting their first tallies of the year. Andrew Heath’s third goal of the campaign ended the onslaught and gave Binghamton three goals in just 2:14. The Titans did not give up, though. New Jersey found a pair of goals in the third period. Dante Debueris scored 33 seconds into the third before Daniil Korobeynikov also picked up his fifth of the year on the power play. Binghamton extends their division lead picking up their 24th point (12-3-0-0) of the season in the win while New Jersey sits in sixth place (5-9-1-0) with 11 points.
West Bend 6 @ Peoria 0 - West Bend’s big first period proved to be more than enough to grab a pair of points against lowly Peoria. Drew Snyder opened the scoring just over halfway through the opening period. West Bend added a second only 33 seconds later with Brody Josselyn beating the goaltender. The offensive outburst continued with Jackson Hoem adding to his team lead in goals. It was Hoem’s 10th of the year and the Power’s third in just 1:39. Teagan Scheurer made it 4-0 West Bend as the period neared its end. Scheurer then added his second of the game and fourth of his season later in the second period. The scoring concluded late in the final 20 minutes with West Bend’s Blake Mitchell grabbing his third of the year. Power goaltender Connor Doyle stopped all 31 shots he faced in the shutout victory while Albert Ancinec made 32 stops in the losing effort for the Mustangs. West Bend moved to third in the Central Division, claiming their 17th point of the year. Peoria continues to search for their second win and sits last in the Central.
Wausau 3 @ Rochester 2 (OT) - Tanner Bonjernorr and Wausau claimed a hard-fought overtime victory over Rochester. However, the Grizzlies struck first just 3:37 into the game. Sam Johnson gave Rochester the early lead with his first of the season. Wausau responded just under five minutes later, on the power play, as Micah Saxon potted sixth to tie the game at one. The second period took a similar look to the first. Baylor Stebbins scored six minutes into the frame to put the Grizzlies back in front. The Cyclones then punched back again shortly after. This time Jake Garrow scored his team-high 13th goal to tie the game at two. Goaltenders Bonjernoor and Gabe Otis kept their opponents off the board in the final 31:27 to force overtime. Wausau’s Connor Dvorak became the game’s hero in the extra fame, potting his ninth goal of the season and grabbing the extra point. Bonjernoor stopped 49 of 51 shots he faced while Otis made 35 saves in 38 attempts. Wausau extended their lead in the Central Division collecting their 25th point (12-1-1-0) of the season. Rochester only picked up one point, their 16th, and dropped to fourth in the Central.
Willmar 1 @ Minnesota W 10 - The first period for the WarHawks remained scoreless. The Wilderness had an eventful period. Dj Powell had an unassisted goal. Cooper Ellena had an unassisted goal shortly after. Tyler Webb had an unassisted goal. Jake Hodd-Chlebeck made a goal with help from Jeff Slivon. Mark DeNoyer had a goal with assists from Jordan Fanti and Slivon. In the second, Kaden Rocheleau with assists from Ellena and DeNoyer added another goal for the Wilderness. DeNoyer added another goal with help from Webb. Zane Irion had an unassisted goal for the WarHawks. Simon Davidson with an assist from Anthony Launderville added a goal to Minnesota’s lead. During the third, Webb with an assist from DeNoyer and Karson Young added another goal for the Wilderness. Hodd-Chlebeck with assists from Slivon and Tyler Starich added the final goal of the game for the Wilderness. Pierson Haislet made 15 saves for the Minnesota Wilderness. Kai Girard made four saves for the WarHawks. The WarHawks switched goalies for Josh Mack who made 29 saves.
Minnesota M 4 @ Mason City 5 - Will Biggar made a goal for the Moose with help from Jackson Schaefer and Gavin Jensen in the first. Easton Simpson increased the lead for Minnesota with assists from Reid Watson and George Daravingas. During the second, Luca got an unassisted goal for the Toros. Marcus Fritel with an assist from Caleb Kallemyn and Parker McInroy added another goal for the Toros. Sam Knight unassisted made another goal for the Moose. In the third, Jensen scored a goal with assists from Watson and Biggar. Dominic Despenas assisted by Aven Prodzinski and Teis Larson added another goal for Mason City. TJ Gibson with assists from Fritel and Grant Harder added a goal to the Toros score. Weston Bohlman assisted by Gibson and Fritel solidified the win for the Mason City Toros. Dylan Posch made 39 saves for the Moose, while Drew Blake made 21 saves for the Toros.
St. Louis 1 @ Wisconsin 6 - Tristen May-Robinson assisted by Viktor Budik put the Woodsmen on the board. Maxim Lazo increased the lead for Wisconsin with assists from Joshua Kaupinnen and Johnny Thrasher. In the second, Hugh Deinema got a goal with an assist from Kauppinen. Budik got a goal assisted by Lucas Thelen and James Pautsch. Pierson Zittel with an assist from Tyler Osborne and Caden McDonald added another goal for the Woodsmen. In the third, Vincent Greene with assists from Patrick Bower and Brandon Slasor increased the lead for the Woodsmen. Brady Anderson got the lone goal of the game for the St. Louis Jr. Blues. Brooks Barofsky made 14 saves for the Junior Blues and Steven Kelley made 3 saves for the Woodsmen.
Alexandria 4 @ Granite City 3 - Ty Smith got the period started early with a goal for the Lumberjacks. Smith put another goal on the board with an assist from Coltin Wassengeso. The second period had a lone goal made by Seth Terhell assisted by Caleb Alderson and Finn Greeley of Granite City. The third period got a goal from Easton Schmit assisted by Ashton Collings and Eli Fletcher of the Blizzard. Markus Olson got an unassisted goal to increase Alexandria’s lead. Collings got a goal assisted by Zach Benson and Fletcher. John Dube ended the game with an assisted goal from Jack Carter and Parker Anthony. Kyle Abrahamson made 32 saves for the Blizzard. Nick Hansen made 15 saves for the Lumberjacks.
Gillette 5 @ Helena 9 - Braydin Johnson's hat trick could not outscore the Helena Bighorns' high powered offense. Tied in the second period, Helena exploded for three goals on a five minute power play. Hunter Colombe and Owen Gruener had multi-goal games and forced Gillette Wild to make a goaltending change in the second period.
Bozeman 5 @ Badlands 2 - TJ Kelsey's two-goal game helped the Bozeman Icedogs defeat the Badlands Sabres. Michael Cordis gave the Sabres the lead in the first period and they kept that lead entering the third. Four consecutive goals by Bozeman in the third period won them the game, while Brett DeVincent saved 45-of-47 to ice the game. Bozeman improved to 8-4 with the win over the division rival.
Butte 11 @ Yellowstone 1 - Five first period goals for the Butte Irish put the game away quickly against the Yellowstone Quake. Butte had four skaters finish with two-goal performances and put up 73 shots on goal in the contest. Tim Nanson saved 34-of-35 in the comfortable victory and helped the Irish improve to 7-7.
New Mexico 4 @ Austin 1 - The New Mexico Ice Wolves easily defeated the Austin Ice Bats 4-1. Breckin Ross' first of the season gave New Mexico the early lead and Carson Gotelaere extended it. Zak Wentworth put New Mexico up 3-0 and Jaxon Washbrun held things down in net. Arys Perardi's late goal was not enough as New Mexico improved to 6-2-1 on the season.
