Kalamazoo 4 @ Springfield 7 – It took a whole lot of scenarios, but the Springfield Jr. Blues got into the playoffs thanks to their come-from-behind 7-4 win at home against the Jr. K-Wings. Springfield tied with the Janesville Jets in the standings, each with 56 points, but thanks to more wins, the Jr. Blues won the tie-breaker. Kalamazoo led 4-2 in the 2nd period with two goals from Robbie Payne and others from Mark Esshaki and Christian George. Jack Sloan and Ryan Atkinson had the Jr. Blues goals. The Jr. Blues started a stretch of five straight goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods which came from Matheson Iacopelli, Terry Leabo, Jeff McFarland Brett Skibba and another from Atkinson, who finished with three points. Boxscore
Johnstown 1 @ Jamestown 2 – The #2 seed and other bye in the 1st round of the North Division playoffs will go to the Jamestown Ironmen thanks to their 2-1 win at home over the Johnstown Tomahawks, who will finish as the #5 seed in the North. Jesse Kessler put Johnstown on the board first with a 1st period power play goal. However, Jamestown responded with two quick goals in the 3rd period from Nathan Ropelewski and Daniel Cesarz, which along with 25 saves from Joe Ballmer, were enough to secure the win. Boxscore
Janesville 4 @ Soo 5 (SO) – It looked like the Jets had their ticket to the playoff punched, but a late Eagles goal and subsequent shootout win put an end to the Jets season as the Eagles came away with an exciting 5-4 win. The teams traded goals through the first two periods to tie the game at 3-3. Jared VanWormer struck twice and Pat Thompson had the goals for Soo, while Jason Ford, Bryan Kronberger and Mike Sullivan scored for the Jets. The Jets went up 4-3 on the 3rd period goal from Jordan Himley, but a late goal from Soo’s Sean Murphy with less than two minutes to go, sent the game to a shootout where the Eagles would score three times to win. Boxscore
Michigan 4 @ Port Huron 7 – The Fighting Falcons extended their win streak to eight straight games and in the process secured the #4 seed and home ice in the first round of the North Division Playoffs. At one point the game was tied 2-2 in the 1st period. Heinz Koster and Shawn Badali had scored for Michigan, while the Falcons had goals from Rick DeRosa and Brett D’Andrea. Port Huron then scored three straight from Dan Dupell, Vito Aluia and another from D’Andrea. Each team added two goals in the 3rd period to make the final 7-4 as Jon Farkas and Jeff Beck scored for the Warriors and Matthew Uvodich and Easton Powers scored for Port Huron. Boxscore
Brookings 1 @ Aberdeen 5 – The Wings ended their season on a high note with a 5-1 win over the playoff-bound Blizzard in front of over 1,600 fans in Aberdeen on Friday night. The Wings jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals in the 1st period from Erik Baskin and Zach Doerring and a goal in the 2nd period from Steven Johnson. Brookings cut the lead to 3-1 on a goal from Thomas Williams, but two 3rd period power play goals from Kyle Haak and Jordan Heller secured the win for the Wings, who won 9 of their final 10 games. Boxscore
Amarillo 5 @ Texas 3 – The Bulls equaled their own record-breaking point total of 99 points from a season ago with a 5-3 win and sweep of the Tornado. Meanwhile, Texas enters the playoffs having won just four times in their final 17 regular season games. Things looked good for Texas early as Max Shuart lit the lamp, but the Bulls answered with three straight goals from Clint Carlisle, Dan McNamera and TJ Sarcona. Andrew Mayer cut the lead to 3-2, but Sarcona answered right back for Amarillo to make it 4-2. Jackson Leef added a power play goal for Texas to make it 4-3, but a 3rd period marker for Carlisle put the game on ice for the Bulls. Boxscore
Bismarck 2 @ Minot 1 – Bryan Nies made 26 saves to help the Bobcats to a weekend sweep of the Minotauros. Minot would start the game on the right foot as Mason Morelli scored in the 1st period to give Minot a 1-0 lead. However, Bismarck was quick to respond as less than two minutes later a goal from Patrick Moore tied the game at 1-1. It took until early in the 3rd period for someone to break the 1-1 deadlock and that was Evan Giesler who scored the game-winner on a power play. Boxscore
Topeka 4 @ Wichita Falls 2 – Three, 3rd period goals led the Topeka RoadRunners to a weekend sweep of the Wichita Falls Wildcats. After a scoreless 1st period, the two teams traded goals in the 2nd period with Kyle Bauman scoring for the Wildcats and Ross Lueddtke for Topeka. The RoadRunners opened up a 4-1 lead in the 3rd period on goals from Kyle Sharkey, Sean Gaffney and Tyler Groat. Chris Knudson would add a late goal for Wichita Falls, but the damage had been done. Boxscore
Odessa 2 @ Corpus Christi 8 – In front of another big crowd of over 4,500 fans, the IceRays ended the regular season on a high note with an 8-2 win over Odessa. After the two teams traded goals in the opening eight minutes with Jalen Schulz scoring for Corpus Christi and Matthew Montemurro for Odessa, the IceRays rattled off seven straight goals. Emil Romig added a late 1st period goal, while Joe Ginley, Charles Baldwin, Rudy Sulmonte and AJ Jarosz added 2nd period tallies. Romig and Ryan McNeely scored in the 3rd period, while Odessa’s second goal came from John Feemster. Boxscore
Austin 5 @ Coulee Region 1 – In front of a season-high 1,141 fans in Coulee Region, the Austin Bruins spoiled the regular season finale of the Chill with a 5-1 win and weekend sweep. It was a balanced scoring attack for Austin, who got two 1st period goals from Jay Dickman and AJ Reid. Nate Mondry and Josh Bretner added 2nd period goals and CJ Smith scored in the 3rd period. Andy Faust scored the lone Chill goal, which came with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to spoil the shutout bid of Jason Pawloski, who made 34 saves. Boxscore
Wenatchee 1 @ Fresno 3 – The Monsters captured their first win of the season at home over the Wild thanks to a 3-1 win in front of over 4,600 fans. Jacob McDowell got the Monsters on the board first with a goal 5:52 into the game. Wenatchee would respond six minutes later as Evan Schmidbauer scored the lone goal of the night for the Wild to even things at 1-1. The difference in the game was two Fresno goals scored :25 seconds apart early in the 2nd period as Mitchell Snyder and Matt Salituro scored to put the Monsters ahead 3-1 for good. Boxscore
Kenai River 2 @ Fairbanks 3 – 33 saves from Kevin Aldridge was the difference in the IceDogs 3-2 win over the Brown Bears in front of a sold out crowd in Fairbanks. In a very even game, each team scored in the 1st period with Colton Wolter lighting the lamp for Fairbanks and Chris Nuth for Kenai River. Fairbanks took a 2-1 lead early in the 3rd period on a goal from Devin Loe. Kenai River tied the game with a strike from Alec Butcher. Taylor Munson would score the game winner halfway through the period. The two teams will face one another in the West Semi-Finals. Boxscore
