Friday Finals: Granite City Skates off with the Win on Home Ice in OT Thriller

Long Beach 5 @ Norwich 1 - The Long Beach Sharks continue their undefeated season in a Friday afternoon battle against the Norwich Sea Captains. Shooting started early in the first period for the Sharks when Eli McCarthy slipped the puck past Norwich’s goalie. With Long Beach looking to take a one-goal lead into the first intermission, Norwich responded with under two minutes remaining in the frame. Tyler Calkins scored his first goal of the season after rounding the net and sending the puck into an open net to tie the game at 1-1. Entering the second period tied at one, Peyton Dahlke scored on a two-on-one situation for the Sharks while they were shorthanded to give Long Beach the lead again. After a relatively quiet rest of the period with no other penalties, Dahlke picked up his second goal of the game with under two minutes left in the middle frame. Moving into the third period, the Sharks' lead grew again when Kingsley Solomon sunk a shot right in front of the crease a quarter of the way through the frame. Anthony Valeriote rounded out the scoring for the night halfway through the frame, scoring off a rebound. The Sharks offense was on point tonight, outshooting Norwich 52 to 23. Niklas Walker was between the pipes, with 22 saves on the night to keep Long Beach undefeated. 

New Jersey 2 @ New Hampshire 3 - The New Hampshire Jr. Mountain Kings remain undefeated after squeaking out a close 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Titans Friday afternoon. While New Hampshire held the shot advantage, 41 to 23, the Titans' goalie, Tony Shaw, was able to limit other scoring opportunities. The first period looked like it would remain scoreless until the final three minutes of the frame. The Jr. Mountain Kings opened the scoring when Anthony Ayala scored off of James Schendorf’s faceoff win. A minute later, Kayden Hill made it 2-0 for New Hampshire, shooting the puck into the net from in front of the crease. The second period was mainly quiet, with both teams unable to get anything done, until New Jersey got on the board with just over two minutes left in the frame. Lincoln Walters scored his fourth goal of the season after sending the puck to the top right corner of the net, making it 2-1. Entering the third, New Hampshire was looking for a way to regain their two-goal advantage. Hill stepped up, scoring his second goal of the night to give the Jr. Mountain Kings a 3-1 advantage with just over half the period remaining. Not giving up, New Jersey’s Timofej Zukovskij scored through traffic, cutting the lead to 3-2. The Titans would pull the goalie, but it wasn’t enough to force overtime.  

Oklahoma City 1 @ Tulsa 4 - After battling in the first two frames, the Tulsa Oilers were able to pull away in the third to secure a 4-1 victory over the Oklahoma City Warriors. The Oilers put up 14 shots on goal each period, outshooting the Warriors 42-18 over the course of the game. The lone goal in the first frame put the Oilers at an advantage. Owen Feinstein scored almost halfway through the frame, slipping the puck under the Warriors’ goalie’s pads. Coming back from intermission, Oklahoma City’s objective was to tie things up, which they did halfway through the second period. London McDougall scored the Warriors' lone goal of the night off a three-on-two rush with Ansley Forsythe and Carter Halling. John Scown didn’t let things stay tied for long, regaining the lead for Tulsa on a breakaway, sending the goalie left while he went right. Scown’s night didn’t end there, as in the third period he scored again, bringing his season total to eight. His goal came early in the third frame, sinking the puck into the top left corner, bringing Tulsa’s lead to 3-1. Luke Yahola scored the fourth and final goal for the Oilers. Tulsa had a 5-on-3 advantage on the power play when Yahola was able to poke it in off a rebound.

Alexandria 2 @ Granite City 3 (OT) - Riley Berg netted the sudden-death overtime winner with just 35 seconds remaining on the clock to propel the Granite City Lumberjacks past the Alexandria Blizzard at Miller Buick GMC Rink. Tyler Meyer broke the ice late in the opening frame for the Blizzard, but Jackson Engberg responded for Granite City before the intermission to pull the contest level. Alexandria regained the upper hand early in the second period courtesy of a marker from Wyatt Mineheine. The Lumberjacks spent most of the night generating heavy pressure in the offensive zone, outshooting Alexandria 57-28 overall, and their perseverance paid off in the third period. Capitalizing on a hooking minor, Manny Pearce tucked home a power-play goal with under two minutes remaining in regulation to force extra time. Berg ended the nail-biter in the dying moments of overtime, while goaltender Zach Price stopped 26 shots to earn the victory. Bode Ekblad turned in a heroic 54-save performance in net for the Blizzard.

Fox Cities 1 @ West Bend 11 - A dominant offensive display guided the West Bend Power to an 11-1 victory over the Fox Cities Forge at Kettle Moraine Ice Center. Special teams sparked West Bend early, beginning with Reece Beckwith burying a short-handed goal midway through the first period before Shaun Paulson capitalized on the power play. The Power broke the contest wide open during a six-goal second-period explosion. Beckwith lit the lamp three times in the frame to complete a four-goal evening, including his second short-handed marker of the night, while Armani Fisher, Elias Holan, and Otis Berge added tallies of their own. Jonah Dickens answered midway through the second period for Fox Cities to spoil the shutout bid, but West Bend kept the gas pedal down in the third frame. Paulson notched two more goals to finish his hat trick, and Tomas Kobela chipped in an even-strength tally. West Bend commanded a 65-8 shot advantage, with Jacob Iallonardo turning aside seven shots in relief to close out the win.

Peoria 6 @ St. Louis 5 (OT) - Zach Staelgraeve scored with 49 seconds remaining in sudden death to cap a chaotic overtime finish and lift the Peoria Mustangs over the St. Louis Jr. Blues at Affton Ice Rink. After a scoreless first period, the Mustangs surged ahead in the middle frame behind goals from Landen Smith, Breyon Maroney, and Braden Hillebrand. St. Louis engineered a frantic third-period comeback, however, as Robert Kelly and Caden Lindley each struck twice alongside an even-strength marker from Chase Kozma to give the Jr. Blues a shocking 5-3 lead. Peoria refused to back down in the final minutes. Staelgraeve brought the Mustangs within one, and Brendan Miller buried the equalizer with just 25 seconds left on the clock to send the battle past 60 minutes. Staelgraeve struck again four minutes into overtime for the game-winner, while goaltender Jaemeson Keith stopped 38 of 43 shots to secure the road victory.

Yellowstone 3 @ Bozeman 4 - In this Friday night matchup, the Yellowstone Quake took to the road to match up against the Bozeman Icedogs. The first half of the opening period would see the two rivals evenly matched, both displaying their strengths offensively and defensively at both ends of the ice. The back-and-forth action would culminate in the Icedogs opening the scoring for the contest. After the puck was rebounded by Seth Hanson and passed to Jakob Johnson, Johnson buried the puck in the back of the net midway through the first to give the Icedogs the 1-0 lead. Following the opening goal, the Icedogs sustained most of the offensive pressure through the remainder of the period. Holding the Quake to only four shots on goal by the end of the period compared to the Icedogs’ 12. The first 15 minutes of the second period would tell much of the same story. With the Icedogs sustaining a majority of the offensive zone time, they continued to outshoot Quake by a large margin, but the Quake would not give up. After defending for most of the period, the Quake would find themselves with an offensive zone faceoff in the back half of the period. A deceptive drive from Grady Perry to the middle of the ice brought defenders to him, leaving Carson Joersz wide open to receive the puck from Perry and get it past Icedogs goaltender Jack Ryan to tie the game at one. A minor penalty around the three minute mark limited the Quake’s opportunity to gain momentum. On the power play, a pass from Lex Steckelberg found Chase Foy undefended. Foy would fire a wrist shot that found its way past the blocker of Quake goaltender Damen Baxter to give the Icedogs the lead. Just 15 seconds after the goal from Foy, Shayne Smith of the Yellowstone Quake would take the puck from the boards and past two Bozeman defensemen to the middle of the ice where he would fire a wrist shot to tie the game at two heading into the third period. Both teams took multiple penalties in the beginning of the third, none of which resulted in a goal. And in the last half of the third period, the Icedogs would take a commanding 4-2 lead with goals from Lex Steckelberg and Seth Hanson just minutes apart. Yellowstone continued to battle, sustaining time in the offensive zone and firing off multiple shots during their power play in an attempt to cut the lead down to one. Their work did not go unrewarded, when a pass from Cameron Beaver found Chance Bryson for the one-timer that would give the Quake a chance with a minute and a half remaining. In that final minute the Icedogs defense stayed strong and limited any chance for the Quake, allowing the Bozeman Icedogs to secure the 4-3 win on home ice. 

Sheridan 8 @ Butte 1 - The Sheridan Hawks took to the road to take on the Butte Irish in this thrilling Frontier Division showdown. A majority of the first period was filled with back-and-forth action, and multiple scoring chances for both teams. A minor penalty against the Hawks forward Lucas Paliwodzinski midway through the period put the Irish on the power play. Despite being down a man, the Hawks successfully killed off the power play, and just a minute later the Hawks would find the chance they had been working for. With a pass from Rex Rider, Anze Gudino entered the Irish defensive zone with a two-on-one rush. Gudino unleashed a wrist shot that found its way into the back of the net to put the Hawks up 1-0 heading into the second period. Despite the Irish recording a majority of the shots in the second frame, the Hawks would be the ones to score the goals. The first of which came just under two minutes in, when a centering pass from Cooper Saari behind the net connected with Caden Gleason in front of the crease to put the Hawks up 2-0. In the back half of the period, after killing a penalty of their own, the Hawks would find themselves on the power play. They successfully capitalized with second left, when a spin-o-rama pass from Lucas Paliwodzinski found the tape of Michael Buckowitz who scored to give the Hawks a three-goal lead. Multiple penalties against the Hawks allowed the Irish to generate some offensive pressure, and despite generating shots on goal the Hawks killed off each penalty. Even though the Irish were in control offensively, in the dying minutes of the period a breakaway from Andrew Bushman would result in a goal that would give the Hawks a 4-0 lead heading into the third period. Any chance for the Irish to come out and generate offense in the third period was quickly limited by the Sheridan offense, with goals from Max Krueger and Tate Haugenoe coming in the first minute of play. Around the 15-minute mark, Anze Gudino would score his second of the night after recovering a rebound off a shot from Andrew Bushbaum, extending the Hawks’ lead 7-0. Moments later, Teddy Degan would put the Irish on the board. After a late goal from Lucas Paliwodzinski, the Hawks ended their night in Butte with an 8-1 victory. 

Austin 3 @ Pelham 6 - The Friday night matchup saw the Austin Ice Bats return to the Pelham Civic Center for the second game of their weekend series against the Pelham Prowlers. Despite having taken the first game of the series, the Prowlers controlled much of the offensive play against the Ice Bats in the opening frame. Consistent minor penalties throughout the first period restricted the Ice Bats from generating any sustained offensive pressure, as they found themselves defending their own zone for a majority of the first. The Ice Bats’ defense successfully killed off all four of the Prowlers’ power play throughout the first period. However, it was in the final minutes of the opening frame that Pelham put that offensive control on the board. A stretch pass from Carsen Domarus would find Keaton Moffitt in the neutral zone to set him up on a breakaway. Moffitt slipped the puck five-hole past Austin goaltender Kellen Hardy to give the Prowlers the lead. Just 12 seconds later, Bryce Croyle would win a battle against the boards to come up with the puck. A backdoor pass from Croyle connected with Brayden Owen, who found the back of the net and gave the Prowlers a 2-0 lead heading into the second period, outshooting the Ice Bats 17-3. Heading into the second period the Prowlers would start the middle frame off on the power play, and having dominated offensively in the first period all momentum was in their favor. But the Ice Bats took advantage of a mishandled puck from the Pelham power play that was recovered by Ronan Howard, who entered the offensive zone and scored from along the boards to put the Ice Bats on the board with a short-handed goal. Following Howard’s goal Austin generated a majority of the scoring chances which were shut down by the Prowlers’ defense. A minor penalty was assessed against the Prowlers in the back half of the period. After successfully killing it off Bryce Croyle launched the puck up ice for Jacob Hums. Hums would recover the puck off the board and score on the breakaway to put the Prowlers up 3-1. A minute later, an interference penalty against the Ice Bats put the Prowlers on the power play. 20 seconds into their man advantage a shot from Carsen Domarus at the blue line was tipped by Brayden Owen to extend the Prowlers’ lead. After a goalie change and a faceoff at center ice, it was less than a minute before the Ice Bats responded. After both centermen got tied up off the faceoff in the Pelham zone, the bouncing puck would find Danny Infante of the Ice Bats. A wrist shot from Infante found the back of the net and the Ice Bats cut their deficit down to two. The Ice Bats sustained offensive pressure for the remaining minutes of the second period, and in the final minute a breakaway from Mark Gallenberger would end with the puck past the goal line after a bardown backhand shot from Gallenberger, sending the Ice Bats into the third trailing 4-3. Much of the third period saw the same back-and-forth style of play that dominated the second. Throughout the first half of the period the Ice Bats rallied to surpass the Prowlers in shots on goal. However, their efforts went unrewarded after a pass from Keaton Moffitt connected with Bearic Wolle for a top-shelf goal that extended the Prowlers’ lead by two. Despite the Ice Bats continuing to push for that next goal, the Prowlers did not let up. After a shot from Colton Edman rebounded to William Hartle, the Prowlers were able to put the game away with a 6-3 win over the Ice Bats. 

Texas Brahmas 3 @ Phoenix Inferno 4 (OT)- The Phoenix Inferno came from behind to defeat Texas in overtime at home. The Brahmas opened the scoring as Benjamin Humphreys found the back of the net at 14:52 of the first period. Just three minutes later, Joshua Reaska extended Texas' lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal. Late in the first, Phoenix cut into the deficit as Kash Benson scored for the Inferno. Despite power-play opportunities for both sides, the first special-teams goal came shorthanded, as Humphreys scored his second goal of the game to give Texas a 3-1 lead. Phoenix completed the comeback in the third period, as Colin Digel scored unassisted early in the period. James "JC" Greenwood then tied the game with a power-play goal at 9:40, sending the teams into overtime. Otaro Inque scored the game-winning goal in overtime to complete the comeback for Phoenix. The Inferno remain undefeated at 6-0-0, while Texas dropped its first game of the season and moved to 3-0-1. Both goaltenders faced a high volume of shots, as Texas' Jacob Brumm made 31 saves while Phoenix's Braxton Becker stopped 26. 

Great Falls Americans 6 @ Badlands Sabres 4- Great Falls would travel to Badlands and earn a road victory in a high-scoring affair. Jacob Weber would earn the lone goal of the first period at 9:24, giving Great Falls a 1-0 lead at first intermission. In an eventful 2nd period, Jase Troyer would notch a power-play goal early in the period. Less than a minute later, the Americans would up their lead to 3-0 with a goal from Reid Lezubksi. Badlands would answer back a little over a minute later with a goal from Maddox Harn. At 11:28, the Americans' power play would strike again as Jordan Antar would make it a three-goal deficit for Great Falls 4-1. Both sides of special teams for Great Falls would score as Xander Troyer would score shorthanded at 7:20 with his brother, Jase, earning an assist on the goal, making it a 5-1 game. Late in the period, Badlands would get a pair of goals to put the game back in reach with a power-play goal from Jackson Hepper. Just over a minute later, Peyton Kostad would find the back of the net, making it a 5-3 contest entering the final period of play. Early in the third, Patrick Gosselin would make it a one-goal game with his first of the season. Badlands would continue to try to complete the comeback, but with 29 seconds to go, Jase Troyer would find the empty net, securing the road win for Great Falls. 

Helena Bighorns 6 @ Gillette Wild 1- Joey Hemr had a standout performance, scoring a hat trick and an assist as Helena cruised to a 6-1 road win in Frontier Division action. Lincoln Kearney opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest, giving the Bighorns an early lead. Late in the first period, Hemr added another goal to put Helena up 2-0 heading into the first intermission. Chase Berg extended the lead early in the second period with a power-play goal, making it 3-0. Hemr scored his second goal in the third period, and Ty Scheel added another shortly after to give Helena a 5-0 lead. Gillette finally got on the board late in the period, as Josh Sauro scored the lone goal for the Wild. Just 35 seconds later, Hemr completed the hat trick, giving him four points on the night and restoring Helena's five-goal lead. The Bighorns held on for the road victory behind a 24-save performance from Oliver Skog, while Gillette's Caden Nelson stopped 35 shots.