ONTARIO AVALANCHE VS. VALENCIA FLYERS

Ontario Avalanche 10, Valencia Flyers 3: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8396

Ontario Avalanche 8, Valencia Flyers 0: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8401

Ontario Avalanche played its final games at the Valencia Ice Station and riddled it with plenty of celebrations sweeping two games. The Avalanche outscored Valencia 18-3 in the two meetings as the Flyers never had a lead. 

Kyle Barrett impressively initiated the scoring on a natural hat trick in the first period on Friday, and then added a fourth goal for good measure at 17:25 of the second. With the 4-0 lead, the Avalanche fell asleep for a brief moment allowing Valencia to get on the board. 

The goal came from Tristan Warr who has been out due to injury. He scored his first goal since Nov. 16 against the very same Avalanche. Much to the Flyers’ dismay, the tally only inspired a reaction from Ontario who got back on top 6-1. Michael Onda would take it on himself to chip away at the deficit. Onda cut the lead in half with succeeding goals in the third.

The Avalanche had no problem carrying over the same energy into Saturday’s game reaching the 8-0 final. The shutout was good for Jonathan Kornreder’s second of the season. 

EDSON AEROS VS. COLD LAKE HORNETS

Edson Aeros 9, Cold Lake Hornets 1: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8407

Edson Aeros 8, Cold Lake Hornets 0: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8416

Edson Aeros got started on a four game weekend with a successful outing against bottom seed Cold Lake Hornets. Hornets were able to get on the board a single time, but denied completely in Game 2 of the series, as Gregory Smith made 34 saves to reach his fourth shutout of the season.

The Aeros outshot Cold Lake 25-9 in the opening frame of Game 1and achieved a 4-0 lead at 8:37. Hornet’s Wassim Saidani ensured that his team wouldn’t get shutout on back-to-back nights when he took one back for the Hornets at 7:23 in rapid response. 

Edson was relentless in scoring five additional goals ensuring Benjamin St-Onge and Maverick Baxtrom with two goals each. 

It was Niklas Froden and Ricky Bredberg who scored twice and helped the Aeros seal a shutout on Saturday’s effort.    

BARRHEAD BOMBERS VS. EDSON AEROS/HINTON TIMBERWOLVES/COLD LAKE HORNETS

Edson Aeros 3, Barrhead Bombers 0: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8397 

Hinton Timberwolves 6, Barrhead Bombers 5: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8405

Cold Lake Hornets 4, Barrhead Bombers 10: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8422

Edson Aeros reach 20 wins in a row and are one win from matching its previous league-best win streak of 21 games. However, the Aeros do in fact have 21 straight wins at home as they remain undefeated.  

 Goals from Philip Bjorkman, Maverick Baxtrom, and Ricky Bredberg put the division leading Aeros just over the 300-goal mark, making them the second highest scoring team in the league behind the Ogden Mustangs. 

Edson will remain perfect against the Bombers in 2019-2020 having exhausted the season series after this weekend. 

Barrhead was able to give Hinton, however, a run for their money at the Murray Rec. Center. Bombers found twine on two power plays including a two-man advantage to kick things off for them at the end of the first. 

With the Timberwolves up 2-1, Barrhead’s second power play goal sank to level the score 2-2 thanks to Ethan Dunnett. But then the Bombers gained a rare lead over Hinton when Oleksandr Davydenko cashed in his opportunity at 7:20 of the second making it 3-2. 

The Savvy Timberwolves did what they needed to do in minimizing Barrhead’s attempts in the second, compared to the first, keeping them to only eight shots. They persisted with 15 shots of their own in the middle period and capitalized on a pair of goals to answer and retake a 4-3 lead at 2:56. 

And just when action couldn’t get wilder, Barrhead ties it up again with 2 seconds left in the middle frame as Dmitro Kobylnyk scored. Going into the third tied 3-3 is uncharted waters for Barrhead who has largely been outplayed by Hinton all season. They couldn’t summit their efforts and allowed Hinton another two goal to peel away. 

Barrhead’s only win of the weekend comes in major form as Mykyta Protsenko and Serhii Poimanov both scored hat tricks to upend the visiting Cold Lake Hornets. Four additional skaters found the back of the net including six multiple point efforts to compliment Protsenko and Poimanov. 

Cold Lake’s Yauheni Lavrov had two tallies to his name, Anson Smith and Wassim Saidani contributed for the Hornets who now loses its fifth straight to their provincial division foe. 

EDSON AEROS VS. HINTON TIMBERWOLVES

Edson Aeros 2, Hinton Timberwolves 1: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8424

Hinton had the best opportunity to hand the Edson Aeros an eyesore of a single loss at Repsol Place, but couldn’t receive ample support from its big time players to clear one goal. Aeros have one more game at home in order to officially rejoice in a perfect home season currently at 21-0-0.

Joshua Stypka won a race to the puck waving off a potential icing in the middle of the first period. His hustle resulted in centering feed from behind the net to Maverick Baxtrom in the high slot. Baxtrom shot the puck on net and Stypka jammed it home for the 1-0 lead. 

As the Timberwolves worked to establish a forecheck minutes after the opening goal, Jamahl Eakett walked the puck in deep to the right of Edson’s, Eli Bowers. What looked like a broken play from Eakett turned into a lethal seam pass that Talon Thomas capitalized from the left of Bowers. 

The game rendered into a stalemate as both teams played to a scoreless second period. 30 seconds into the third period however, Niklas Froden found a fortuitous rebound after Ilya Zhilinsky’s wrap-around attempt was blocked, and put the puck in the back of the net to clinch the game-winner at 19:30. 

Bowers made 29 saves to backstop the win and remains undefeated at 10-0-0.    

BELLINGHAM BLAZERS VS. UTAH OUTLIERS

Bellingham Blazers 1, Utah Outliers 9: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8399

Bellingham Blazers 3, Utah Outliers 5: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8410

Bellingham Blazers 2, Utah Outliers 3: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8420

Bellingham Blazers slowly improved as the weekend wore on making Sunday’s game the closest encounter in the season series this year. With that said, the Blazers couldn’t produce as often as they needed to, totaling 56 shots on goal over the three games. By comparison, Utah broke 50 shots in just one game. 

Bellingham’s only lead of the weekend was on Saturday as Joshua Mizue opened the scoring to put the Blazers up 1-0 at 5:47 of the first period. Utah found ways to score by committee when four different Outliers rippled the mesh to gain the 4-1 advantage. 

Just as the Blazers seemed down and out, Seth Hebert and Milo Schneidmiller inched their side to within one goal. With just under three minutes remaining in the match, the Washington side gassed its late-game heroism, and instead, it was Trent Gephart making it 5-3 in favor of Utah. 

On Sunday, the Blazers tied it up on two different occasions but never could clear a third goal to send the match to overtime. Former Pueblo Bull, Ryan Wirth, broke the deadlock, for Utah, in the second period after a scoreless first frame. Kai Slette tied it 1-1 for the Blazers, finding his first goal of the season at a timely moment. 

The two clubs exchanged one more goal each until defenseman, Helvis Rudzajs, capped it off 3-2 at 5:04 of the final period. 

The Outliers reach 17 wins in a row and will pin that against Ogden’s 17 game win streak next weekend to closeout the regular season. 

DALLAS SNIPERS VS. WICHITA JR. THUNDER

(Photo by Michelle Holcomb, Snipers)

Dallas Snipers 10, Wichita Jr. Thunder 1: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8400

Dallas Snipers 13, Wichita. Jr. Thunder 5: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8411

Dallas Snipers 7, Wichita Jr. Thunder 2: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8417

Dallas culminated its regular season with a capsizing sweep of the Wichita Jr. Thunder. Snipers are able to hold onto third place at least for one more week since they successfully collected all nine points. They have a total of 89 points, just three ahead of the Bulls who still must face Wichita next week. 

Bradley Richardson had goals in all three games, including two tallies on Saturday, to make his mark. 

The Jr. Thunder can only recall one lead this weekend after they successfully converted two power player goals, including a two-man advantage to make it 2-0 on Saturday. They started on a good note in forcing Dallas to play from behind. But it turns out they would have needed more since the Snipers roared back with five unanswered. 

Wichita enjoyed being a thorn in Dallas’ back, so much so, that they opted for another two goals to make it an interesting 5-4 game at 8:39 of the middle period. 

Alexander Aleshkin only needed to make five saves in the third which helps illustrate how dominant Dallas was. All the possession time they were accruing facilitated the eight goal frenzy from the 7:56 of the second to the 6 minute mark of the third period.      

FRESNO MONSTERS VS. SOUTHERN OREGON SPARTANS

Fresno Monsters 8, Southern Oregon Spartans 1: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8402

Fresno Monsters 7, Southern Oregon Spartans 2: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8413

Fresno Monsters 10, Southern Oregon Spartans 3: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8421

Western Division leaders, Fresno Monsters, completed a season-series sweep of Northwest Division’s, Southern Oregon Spartans, following three wins in Medford. Southern Oregon faced the same uphill battle holding only a single lead the entire weekend. 

Southern Oregon had the start it was looking for. Andrew Rothmeier handed the Spartans a 1-0 lead at 12:19 of the first period in Game 1. The opportune goal turned out to be one of only seven shots in the period that the Spartans could generate. 

The lack of offense got them in trouble in the first period when they went down 2-1 after Mikhail Gavrilenko and Petr Philippov, at the 3:00 minute mark, found twine. Fresno went on to pepper Josh Breznik with  66 shots and in doing so, had a 5-1 lead by the end of the second frame. 

Southern Oregon was able to provide some push-back—in Game 2—after going down 1-0 early. However, the Spartans ultimately fell into the same offensive scarcity hindering any momentum from Ian Wark’s first of the night. Fresno took over the Saturday tilt, and in subsequent action, with a four goal explosion to answer. 

Wark capitalized at 4:46 of the second period capping off the Spartans on the scoreboard.    

Nikita Garin, back with the Monsters after spending time in Valencia, had himself a five point night on Sunday. But Anton Svensson stole the show registering a total of six points including 1G-5A. 

PUEBLO BULLS VS. NORTHERN COLORADO EAGLES 

(Photo by Diane Madden, Standout Imagery)

Pueblo Bulls 8, Northern Colorado Eagles 1: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8513

Pueblo Bulls 5, Northern Colorado Eagles 1: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8408

Pueblo Bulls 0, Northern Colorado Eagles 5: https://stats.wshl.timetoscore.com/generate-scorecard.php?game_id=8419

Pueblo Bulls imposed its fury on neighboring Northern Colorado Eagles who were able to avoid a sweep with a strong shutout effort on Sunday. Northern Colorado just wasn’t itself dropping two home games in uncharacteristic fashion.

Benjamin St. Onge scored three goals on back-to-back nights and gave the Bulls an initial 2-0 lead in Game 1. Case Kantgias cut the lead in half for the Eagles in the opening minute of the second period. 

Pueblo may have studied Marshall Murphy as they were able to figure out how to get past him rather frequently. They scored three goals in the second and three more in the third period, but Eagles Head Coach Steve Haddon entrusted Murphy in net and never pulled him.

Henry Dennee stole the limelight since the Eagles actually outshot Pueblo in the second and third periods of Game 1. Dennee allowed his team to diligently chip past Murphy while he deflected anything the Eagles had, to total 42/43 saves. 

Murphy and Dennee both started in Game 2. Unlike on Friday, Northern Colorado lit the lamp first giving the Ice Haus a first period celebration. 

But then the Eagles entered a dry spell once again, out chancing the Bulls, and unable to figure out Dennee. Ondrej Blaha kicked off five unanswered goals for the Bulls who shocked the Eagles. 

Northern Colorado saved itself extra work down the road when it avoided the sweep on Sunday’s performance. Murphy redeemed himself with 41 total saves and five different Eagles found the goals. Brennan McFarland led with four points. 

Now, if the Bulls sweep Wichita in regulation next week, they can total 95 points which will put them in second place by one point. In that case, Northern Colorado, currently at 94 points, would only need two of a possible nine points to clinch second place. They will need to do so on the road against the complicated Oklahoma City Blazers.