Friday Finals: Willmar Takes Down First Place Granite City

Texas R 1 @ Louisiana 4 - Jake Bergstrom’s three point night led the way as the Louisiana Drillers took care of the Texas RoadRunners by a score of 4-1. Brody Neish had a goal and two helpers for the Drillers who improved to 14-0-2-1 on the season. Max Workman added a goal for Louisiana while Cole Schmidt earned the win in goal making 18 saves. Kyle Mackintosh had the lone goal for Texas while the Jimmy Packee suffered the loss in goal as he stopped 36 saves.

Maine 7 @ Norwich 6 (OT) - Ryan Mileikis scored the game winning goal in overtime as the Maine Nordiques outlasted the Norwich Sea Captains 7-6. After Genrikh Rozhkov scored in the opening seconds for the Nordiques, the Sea Captains rattled off three consecutive goals to take a two goal advantage into the locker room. Rozhkov scored again to bring Maine within one but back to back tallies by Connor Gronewald and Ryan Bernard had Norwich leading 5-2. The Nordiques would storm back with three goals in just under 90 seconds as Krisjanis Graholskis, Owen Gates and Hayden Brown all found the back of the net to make it a 5-5 game after 40 minutes. Rozhkov finished off his hat trick to give Maine the lead but a goal from Connor Gilkeson sent the game to overtime. That’s when Mileikis scored his second goal of the season to send the Nords home with the victory. Ayden Linville got the win in net in relief as he made 19 saves on 21 shots. Presley Patrin suffered the loss as he finished with 25 saves.

Minnesota M 5 @ Minnesota W 6 (OT) - Tyler Webb’s second tally of the night lifted the Wilderness over the Moose by a score of 6-5. Webb opened the scored with Simon Davidson to get the Wilderness out to a 2-0 lead. Wyatt Hopeful and Kaden Milles scored back to back in 51 seconds to even the game at two. Mark DeNoyer and Jordan Fanti both logged goals in the second period to give the Wilderness a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame. Jackson Schaefer and Andrew Winter scored early in the third to tie the game up at four. Jack Larson and Milles traded goals in the later stages of the third period to force the extra period where Webb’s heroics earned the Wilderness the extra point. Dylan Posch was the winner in goal with 25 saves while Nate Jensen was given the loss, finishing with 33 saves.

Peoria 4 @ Wausau 7 - John Kriz led all skaters with five points which included a hat trick as the Wausau Cyclones beat the Peoria Mustangs 7-4. The power play was lethal for the Cyclones as they finished the night 4-for-5 with the man advantage. Micah Saxon had four helpers while Connor Dvorak potted a goal and three assists. Landon Bechtolt was on the scoresheet twice himself while Jake Garrow also visited the red light district. Johnny Switzer, Wyatt Duke, Ian Ingles and Nathan Pleva all scored for Peoria. Tanner Bonjernoor got the win in goal for Wausau with 17 saves, while Filip Kaczmarczyk ended the night with 47 stops.

Mason City 2 @ Alexandria 6 - The Alexandria Blizzard increased their win streak to seven as they took down the Mason City Toros by score of 6-2. The first period belonged to the Toros as Luca Salad and Marcus Fritel sandwiched a goal from Alexandria’s Caleb Waller. The rest of the night was all Alexandria as they netted five unanswered goals over the final 40 minutes of play. Eli Fletcher, Jack Carter, Mason Buchanan and Markus Olson all got on the scoresheet while Waller added his second of the game. Kyle Abrahamson was terrific as he stopped 36 of 38 shots. Drew Blake was dealt the loss as he had 27 saves for Mason City.

Tulsa 0 @ New Mexico 9 - The New Mexico Ice Wolves offense struck early and often as they dominated the Tulsa Jr. Oilers by a score of 9-0. Rory Smith and Braeden Whitesell each had two goals and an assist while Koen Burkholder notched a goal and three helpers. Carson Gotelaere and Edward Gregorin had a goal and an assist while Dante Hunziker and Brant Tiedeman also got on the scoreboard with a goal. Jaxon Washburn pitched the shutout for New Mexico.

Rochester 6 @ West Bend 3 - A big third period highlighted the Rochester Grizzlies 6-3 win over the West Bend Power on Friday night. Odin Klebba and Tommy Woods traded goals in the first while Teagan Scheurer and Tyler Steuck traded tallies in the second. Brayden Graning gave West Bend the lead early in the third but goals from Steuck, Noah Joyce, Josh Wolf and Twine Haisma propelled the Grizzlies to the victory. Andrew Dubin ended the night with 36 saves to earn the win while Connor Doyle suffered the loss with 18 stops on the evening.

Willmar 3 @ Granite City 1 - The Willmar WarHawks claimed a victory over the Granite City Lumberjacks Friday night. No scoring took place in the first period. Willmar kicked off the scoring midway through the second period with a goal from Aidan Callaghan. The Lumberjacks retaliated back just a few minutes later with Cole Sieben finding the back of the net. In the third period, Willmar found the lead with Nathan Hinze netting a goal. The WarHawks ultimately secured the victory with Aidan Callaghan scoring his second goal of the night on an empty net. Granite City’s goaltender Tyler White saved 28 out of the 30 shots he faced in the loss, while Willmar’s netminder Kai Girad made 42 saves out of 43 shots.

Texas B 8 @ Atlanta 0 - The Texas Brahmas began the scoring 55 seconds into the first period and never looked back. Forry and Meshkantsov each had four points on the night for the Brahmas and Jones and Crowley each had three. The Brahmas challenged Atlanta’s goaltender Jackson Black with 48 shots on net. The Brahmas shorthanded goal by Kotrba, their only goal of the second period that gave them the 3-0 lead, punctuated the outcome of the game. Atlanta couldn;t bounce back, allowing five goals in the third. Romney earned the shutout for the Brahmas, stopping all seventeen of the Capitals’ shots.

Bozeman 5 @ Great Falls 6 (OT) - The Great Falls Americans faced off in a thrilling matchup against the Bozeman Ice Dogs. The Americans opened the scoring in the first period with a power play goal from Fisher Hannesson. The Ice Dogs responded back quickly when Sam Trufant found the back of the net. The Americans were dominant in the second period with Hannesson, Jurzy Allard, and Blayne Jusczak all netting goals and with all but one being on the powerplay. The Americans’ Ty O’Bey kicked off the scoring in the third period with a goal on a penalty shot. The Ice Dogs made a major comeback right after though with Tyler Klingbeli, Spencer Wilkson (2), and Lex Stecklberg scored a combined four goals to force the game into overtime. Less than two minutes into overtime, Aiden Kennedy found the back of the net and secured the Americans a victory on home ice. Bozeman’s Issac Weatherford made 21 saves out of 27 shots while Great Falls’ Kaden Rhyder saved 40 shots out of the total 45 he faced.

Gillette 1 @ Badlands 3 - The Badlands Sabres defeated the Gillette Wild 3-1 to earn a victory at home. The first period was scoreless, but in the second, Easton Newman kicked off the night’s scoring 3 minutes into the period with a goal for the Sabres. The Sabres went on to score two power play goals from Ryan Jordan and Grady Nygaard later on in the period. Midway through the third period the Wild attempted to make a comeback with Dylan Peterson finding the back of the net. The Wild’s efforts weren’t successful enough and the Sabres ended up claiming the win. The Wild’s goaltender Austin Trieber saved an impressive 47 saves out of 50 shots while the Sabres goaltender Lochlin Jackson made 25 saves out of the 26 shots he faced.

Helena 6 @ Butte 3 - The Helena Bighorns earned a victory on the road Friday night against the Butte Irish. Helena opened the scoring in the first period with Chase Berg finding the net. Later on in the period, The Irish fought back with Easton Langemo and Andrew Broe scoring back to back goals. With a little over a minute left in the period, Caden Fenstein netted a goal to bring the score at the end of the first period to 2-2. Helena put up two goals on the board in the second period from Colin Becker and Jeffery Hershberger. Late in the third period, Helena’s Hersberger and Bradon Mcilhany brought the score to 6-2 with 3 minutes left in the period. Ajay Schiller managed to put up one more goal for the Irish, but that still wasn’t enough to defeat the Bighorns.

Yellowstone 0 @ Sheridan 8 - The Sheridan Hawks were home to the Yellowstone Quake Friday night. The Hawks opened the scoring 1:36 into the first period on a goal by Elijah Farris and continued to put another three on the board in the opening frame. The Hawks added another in the second and three more in the third period for a final score of 8-0. The Hawks fired 59 shots at the Quake goalies while John Simon earned the shutout stopping all 14 shots. Josh Serino was one the Hawks who had a multi-point night with a hat trick and one helper. The win tonight brings the Hawks record to 11-5-2-0.

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