Minnesota Division wins five for second straight day
Illiana and Fort Wayne started the day with back-to-back victories for the Great Lakes Division, but the Twin Cities Northern Lights, Maple Grove Energy, Edina Lakers, Minnesota Owls and Dells Ducks each ended up victorious before days end.
The Central Wisconsin Saints struck back late in the day though, topping the Rochester Ice Hawks 3-2 in a shootout to take the nightcap and the day’s third victory for Great Lakes Division teams.
Here’s a complete wrap-up of all the action:
Illiana Blackbirds 6, Hudson Crusaders 4
The Illiana Blackbirds were victorious for a second consecutive outing Friday after defeating the Hudson Crusaders 6-4.
Hudson netted the first two goals of the game, but the Blackbirds would cut the deficit in half by the end of the first period before using a four-goal second to provide the cushion they would need in the third.
Chad Miller, Andrew Owerko, Joe Orosz and Colin O’Connor each scored in that middle period of Illiana. Nathan Aloisio added recorded the Blackbirds first goal of the game, and Orosz scored on a power play in the third just seconds after AJ Caskey had pulled Hudson to within 5-4 with 3:07 to play.
Caskey also scored in the first to give him two goals and an assist for the game. Teammate Zack Fedie had two assists in the loss. Aloisio added a pair of assists to go with his goal for Illiana.
Fort Wayne Federals 6, Steele County Blades 1
The Fort Wayne Federals continued to impress, following up a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Owls Thursday with a 6-1 win over the Steele County Blades Friday.
The Federals started with a five-minute flurry that saw them take a 3-0 lead 4:26 after the opening face-off on a goal from Maxim Chergrintcev and a pair of power play goals from Brendan Lewis.
The Blades would score their lone goal of the game on a Tyler Weber shot with 2:01 left in the first, but Lewis would complete his hat trick 3:42 into the second, and Mitchell McEwan would made it a 5-1 game 2:39 shy of the third.
Tyler Martz made 42 saves for Fort Wayne, Lewis added an assist to give him a four-point night. Chegrintcev completed the game with a goal and two assists.
Twin Cities Northern Lights 6, St. Louis Frontenacs 0
The first shutout of the weekend was a shared one, as Twin Cities goaltenders Blair Sanders and Paul Ciaccio combined to make 20 saves in a 6-0 victory for the Northern Lights over the St. Louis Frontenacs.
Michael Gunderson scored in both the second and third period for Twin Cities. Ton Pnewsk also scored in the second to go with his three assists, and Max Techendorf also helped set up three goals for the defending national tournament runner-up.
Travis Bastin faced 82 shots in taking the loss for St. Louis, turning aside 76 in defeat.
Maple Grove Energy 5, Tri City Ice Hawks 3
The Maple Grove Energy improved to 2-0 on the weekend by defeating the Tri City Ice Hawks 5-3.
Both teams scored in the opening moments of the game. Tri City struck first on a power play goal from Joe Hawkins 2:47 in, but the Energy would counter when Austin Burt scored a little under two minutes later.
The score would remain knotted at 1-1 until 6:19 of the second, when Kendall Bolen-Porter staked Maple Grove to a 3-1 lead with a pair of goals four minutes apart.
Josh Blum got one back for Tri City just a few minutes in front of the intermission, but the Energy went back up by two on Gavin Smith’s goal 3:43 into the third, before extending the lead to 5-2 on a goal from Cody Vanthournout with 4:04 to play.
Nick Pines also scored for the Ice Hawks, and Zachary Bourcier had two assists.
Austin Hill set up a pair for Maple Grove, and Energy goaltender Tanor Bradison was good on 25 of the 28 shots he faced in the win.
Edina Lakers 6, Wooster Oilers 0
The Edina Lakers bounced back from a 5-2 loss to Illiana to shutout the Wooster Oilers 6-0 Friday.
Matiss Kivlenieks stopped each of the 26 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal for the Lakers, and he was supported up front by a two goal effort from both Dallas Marvin and Michael Pederson.
Pederson scored both of his goals in the opening period, as Edina took a 3-0 lead after one. The Lakers added two more in the second on goals from Greg Shelonzek and Marvin, and Marvin added one more in the third to complete the scoring.
Bryan Grigorian had three assists in the win, and Jesse Game and Dylan Vanbrocklin each finished with two.
Wooster goaltender Creighton Furber made 34 saves in defeat.
Minnesota Owls 7, Wisconsin Rampage 2
The Minnesota Owls evened their weekend record at 1-1 after handing the Wisconsin Rampage its second straight defeat of the weekend with a 7-2 victory Friday.
The Owls scored five of the games first six goals to take a 5-1 lead through two, before answering Wisconsin’s goal midway through the third with two more late in the game.
Tanner Vinson notched a pair of goals in the second period for the Owls, which was part of a five point night for the Minnesota forward. Steven Kelly had a goal and two assists in the win, and Mike Weber picked up the victory in goal by making 26 saves.
Thomas Graham stopped 42 shots for the Rampage, which got single tally’s each from Anthony Casaletto and Michael Howard.
Dells Ducks 4, Marquette Royales 3
A day after rolling to a 14-goal victory, the Dells Ducks were forced into a much tighter contest Friday in their meeting with the Marquette Royales.
But a 4-1 second period lead would prove to be just enough for the Ducks, who hung on to win for a second straight day with a 4-3 victory over Marquette.
Ian Wood, Daniel Roe, Layne Martin and Brett Johnson each scored for the Ducks, erasing an early 1-0 advantage Marquette had on a first period power play goal from Matt Marcin.
Down by three, Marquette made things interesting down the stretch. Dallas McLaughlin scored late in the second to pull the Royals within two heading into the third, and then Jeff Salzbrunn scored on a power play with 57 seconds remaining to make it a one goal game.
Both Roe and Wood added an assist to go with their goal, Brady Hefner had two assists for the Ducks and Robert Meadows made 34 saves to get pick up the win in goal.
Walker Enstad made 30 saves for Marquette, and Lane King assisted on two of the three Royales goals.
Central Wisconsin Saints 3, Rochester Ice Hawks 2
The first shootout of the weekend went the way of the Central Wisconsin Saints, who would be credited with a 3-2 defeat of the host Rochester Ice Hawks Friday.
Deadlocked in a 0-0 tie for much of the first half of the contest, Rochester got the scoring started on a goal from Ludo Dunko at 9:21 of the second. The lead would be short-lived however, as Central Wisconsin came back with a goal from Kevin Miller just 57 seconds later to even the score at 1-1.
Just over three minutes after Miller’s goal, the Saints scored again on a Joseph Cashman goal with 6:35 left in the second period.
The score would remain 2-1 until the 2:24 mark of the third, when Trey McMillen scored for Rochester with a goal that eventually sent the game to overtime.
Saturday, September 14
Wooster Oilers vs. Minnesota Owls, 10 a.m. at Graham Arena #4
St. Louis Frontenacs vs. Hudson Crusaders, 10 a.m. at the Rochester Recreation Center
Central Wisconsin Saints vs. Edina Lakers, 1 p.m. at Graham Arena #4
Illiana Blackbirds vs. Twin Cities Northern Lights, 1 p.m. at the Rochester Recreation Center
Wisconsin Rampage vs. Dells Ducks, 4 p.m. at Graham Arena #4
Marquette Royales vs. Steele County Blades, 4 p.m. at the Rochester Recreation Center
Fort Wayne Federals vs. Maple Grove Energy, 7 p.m. at Graham Arena #4
Tri City Ice Hawks vs. Rochester Ice Hawks, 7 p.m. the Rochester Recreation Center
Sunday, September 15
Marquette Royales vs. Edina Lakers, 8 a.m. at Graham Arena #4
Fort Wayne Federals vs. Twin Cities Northern Lights, 8 a.m. at the Rochester Recreation Center
Illiana Blackbirds vs. Maple Grove Energy, 10:30 a.m. at Graham Arena #4
St. Louis Frontenacs vs. Rochester Ice Hawks, 10:30 a.m. at the Rochester Recreation Center
Wooster Oilers vs. Steele County Blades, noon at the Four Seasons Centre
Tri City Ice Hawks vs. Minnesota Owls, 1 p.m. at Graham Arena #4
Wisconsin Rampage vs. Hudson Crusaders, 3:30 p.m. at Graham Arena #4
Central Wisconsin Saints vs. Dells Ducks, 5 p.m. at Poppy Waterman Arena
