Sunday Wrap Up: Phoenix Sweeps the Brahmas!

Photo provided by Kalen Ryden

Louisiana 14 @ Atlanta 1 - Logan Woods’ hat trick propelled the Louisiana Drillers to a dominant 14-1 victory over the Atlanta Capitals Sunday afternoon. The 14 goals came from 11 different players for Louisiana. Woods got the action started early in the opening frame before Jackson Zych, Andree Kozhushko and Cohen Palmer all added their own tallies. Zych earned his second goal of the period with under a minute left in the frame, sending the Drillers into intermission with a 5-0 lead. Heading into the middle frame, Dayton Ruppel kept the Drillers’ offense going, notching a goal midway through the period. Woods scored the next two goals, including one on the power play, to complete his hat trick for the day. With an 8-0 lead heading into the third, Louisiana never took their foot off the gas, notching its most goals in the final frame. Dante Zaffarano and Trent Laroche kicked things off early with two power-play goals. Julian Saldi netted two goals within two minutes of each other, while Daniel Vihavaianen picked up his first of the afternoon. With just over five minutes left, Isaiah Ronson scored Atlanta’s lone goal on the power play, ridding Louisiana of a shutout performance. Up 13-1, Zachary Marsell capped off the afternoon with the fourth power-play goal for the Drillers. Louisiana controlled the shots throughout the game, outshooting Atlanta 40-16.   

Texas 1 @ Phoenix 3 - A pair of late second-period tallies propelled the Phoenix Inferno past the Texas Brahmas to complete a 3-1 home victory at AZ Ice Peoria. Following a tightly contested, scoreless first period, the Inferno broke the deadlock late in the middle frame when Otaro Inoue lit the lamp. Phoenix quickly doubled the advantage two minutes later on an even-strength marker from Kash Benson. A heated battle boiled over as the second-period buzzer sounded, resulting in game misconducts assessed to multiple skaters on both sides, including both starting netminders. The Brahmas mounted a push in the third period, cutting the deficit in half when Jayani Benson scored midway through the frame. Phoenix shut down the comeback bid, however, as Camden Babin buried an insurance marker with under four minutes remaining in regulation to seal the win. Goaltender Ryder Ness stopped 30 of 31 shots to secure the victory for the Inferno, while Jacob Brumm made 18 saves between the pipes for Texas.

Norwich 1 @ Long Beach 15 - The Norwich Sea Captains took to the road to match up against the Long Beach Sharks in this Sunday afternoon matchup. The Sharks took the early lead when a pass from Garrett Davidson connected with Eli McCarthy. The shot from McCarthy beat Sea Captains’ goaltender Michael Downey to put the Sharks up 1-0 just minutes into the contest. It was moments later that the Sea Captains responded. After a turnover by the Sharks in their own zone was recovered by Sea Captains forward Lukas Sobczack, he was left undefended as he made his way to the crease to bury the puck to tie the game at one. The remainder of the first period saw the Sharks sustain most of the offensive pressure, holding the Sea Captains to only four shots on goal compared to the Sharks’ 20. In the dying seconds of the period, James Steinberg puckhandled his way from the boards to the middle of the ice where his wrist shot beat the Sea Captains’ goaltender to send the Sharks into the second period leading 2-1. During the second period, the Sharks continued to control the offensive play, adding 28 shots on goal to their total while holding the Sea Captains to only four. It was halfway through the period that the floodgates opened for the Sharks, who proceeded to score six unanswered goals before the period was over, taking an 8-1 lead over the Sea Captains heading into the final period. The third told much of the same story, with the Sharks adding seven more goals to their total, one of which came on the power play in the final minutes of the game. In the end, the Sharks recorded a total of 70 shots on goal on their way to a 15-1 victory.

Tulsa 6 @ Oklahoma City 4 - A fantastic South division matchup between the Tulsa Oilers and the hosting Oklahoma City Warriors saw some fun, action packed hockey. Just seconds into the game, the Oilers had the first powerplay opportunity of the game. Back at even strength, the Warriors and Keeghan Johnston struck first off of an odd man rush opportunity. Tulsa scored twice in response, from John Scown and Morgan Batclift, to end the fast and physical first period. Tulsa kept the pressure on in the second, adding a goal from Bryce Van Der Maar, though Oklahoma City answered almost immediately with goals scored by London McDougal and Ansley Forsythe, tying the score at 3-3.  Not for long, though, because the Oilers scored two more goals to end the period, off the sticks of Raul Galadzhian and Scown’s second goal of the game. The second period, equally as free flowing as the first, closed with a score of 5-3. The third and final period was choppier than the first two, with both sides doing a lot of chasing after the puck, before Oklahoma City had Middleton scored again to draw the game to the narrowest of margins. With seconds keft, however, the Oilers Chase Boswell was able to get one past the defense and give Tulsa a 6-4 victory.