Bruins and Roadrunners dominate NAHL Showcase

Most teams enjoyed both high and low points at the NAHL Showcase tournament played at the Schwan Super Rink at Blaine, MN Sept. 17-20 but it was hard to find a low for two teams.

Austin Bruins played in the tournament’s final game and whipped the defending Robertson Cup champion Fairbanks Ice Dogs 9-4 to lay claim to the tournament’s championship pennant. In earlier games the Bruins downed Michigan Warriors 5-2, shutout the Keystone Ice Miners 4-0 and pounded the Johnstown Tomahawks 8-2 to wrap up a perfect four win start to the season.

The Topeka Roadrunners also earned four wins, beginning with a tough one — 3-2 in a shootout that went 12 rounds over the Ice Miners, then earned back to back 4-0 shutouts against the Tomahawks and Warriors before wrapping it up with a 7-1 win against the Kenai River Brown Bears.

The Bruins were declared champions based on goals but the Roadrunners accomplishment is a little bit more impressive only because they already had back to back wins against Corpus Christi the previous weekend so they exited the event with a solid 6-0 start to the season.

Here’s a quick run down on how the 13 Midwest based teams fared in their games at the Showcase tournament.

 

NAHL Showcase – Sept. 17

MN Magicians 3 Lone Star 2

Even at 2-2 after a period it seemed these two teams were on their way to a wild one, but there was actually only one more goal scored, that coming from Denis Shevyrin for the Magicians just past the halfway mark of the middle frame and that stood up as enough for the win against the Brahmas.

Shevyrin scored one of the other Magician goals and Nathan Krusko also had one while Vaughan Ahrens handled 27 of shots he faced to pick up the win in goal.

Anton Santesson and Johan Steen scored for the Brahmas with TJ Black handling the work in goal.

MN Wilderness 6 Rio Grande Valley 0

The first period was an even battle primarily between goaltenders as the Wilderness held a narrow 12-10 edge in shots and both teams failed to hit the board.

However, it was all Wilderness from then on with three unanswered tallies in both the second and third period for a dominant win.

Tyler Cline connected for three of the goals, Aaron Miller adding a goal and assist while Ivan Chukarov set up two. Brett Heikkila and Isak Berglund scored the other Wilderness goals and Ryan Anderson stopped all 15 shots he faced in goal.

Josh Erickson was kept plenty busy in the Rio Grande goal, beaten six times on 39 shots.

Coulee Region 5 Odessa 2

The Chile was outshot in each of the three periods but Adam Carlson turned aside 32 of 34 faced while his team rolled to leads of 2-1 after the first and 4-2 heading to the third.

Offensively, Adam Lovick was nearly unstoppable; ending the game with two goals and two assists and Richard Zehnal was with him with four helpers. Sean Lang added a goal and two assists and Cameroon Cooper also picked up a goal and assist. Jack Sorenson scored the other Chill goal.

Kenny Massinger and assisted on the other, scored by Ryan Mackellar for the Jackalopes.

Johnstown 3 Aberdeen 2

Johnstown slowly pulled away from the Wings with a goal in each period but Kyle Haak’s goal with less than eight minutes to play not only shattered the shutout bid of Tomahawks goaltender Jacob Gwillim, but also opened the door for a comeback.

Haak helped set up Ronnie Heim for a second Wings marker with 1:44 to play making for a dramatic finish. Chad Catt handled 16 of 19 shots faced in goal for the Wings.

For the Tomahawks, Zach Zech and Andrew Romano picked up a goal and assist apiece and Trevor Ringwald scored the other.

Michigan 2 Austin 5

The Bruins took a first step toward the tournament championship, improving with each period in its opener with the Warriors.

After a scoreless first period, the Bruins carried a 2-1 edge out of the middle frame put this one away scoring the final two goals of the game on its way to a 3-1 cushion through the third. The final goal was scored into an empty net as the Warriors went with an extra attacker in the final minute.

Luke Forfar and Brian Bachnak picked up a goal and assist in their season opener while Cory Dunn and Trevor Boyd both collected two assists. John Chorzempa, JC Maclean and Zach Kennedy had the other goals and Zach Driscoll was the winning goaltender, stopping 24 of 26.

Derek Frentz and Nick Mosher countered with the Michigan goals and Trevor Gorsuch stopped 28 of 32 in goal for the Warriors.

Keystone 2 Topeka 3 (so)

There were plenty of exciting moments in this one, but ultimately, the battle came down to some nearly flawless work between the pipes by a pair of goaltenders.

Drew Vogler stopped 26 of 28 for the Roadrunners and Alex Blankenburg handled 28 of 30 for the Ice Miners through three regulation frames and extra five minute session. But they were just getting started.

An endless shootout saw a total of 23 skaters shaking their heads before Will Scherer finally ended this one for the Roadrunners in the 12th round.

Beau Dommer and Dawson DiPietro had the regulation goals for the Roadrunners while the Ice Miners got goals from Scott Donahue and Garrett Hallford, both on feeds from Cameron Smith.

Soo 7 Bismarck 0

After splitting a pair with the Jets the previous weekend, the Eagles were flying at the Showcase opener, scoring three in the first and third periods on its way to a seven goal effort while Sean Keating turned aside all 18 shots he faced to nail down the shutout.

Brice Raymond, Chase Matson, Brad Pung and Keegan Miller each picked up a goal and assist for the Eagles while Kristofers Bindulis and Denver Pierce both assisted on a pair and other goals came from Sandis Zolmanis, Trevor Cope and Evan Mills.

Springfield 3 Brookings 2

The Jr. Blues carried a 2-1 lead into the final frame and both teams added one more in the first four minutes of the third, but Dryden McKay managed to get this one to the finish line, stopping 26 of 28 shots against to earn the win in goal for the Blues.

Joshua Lammon led the offense with a goal and assist and Max Kalter set up a pair with other goals coming from Joseph Carney and Tim Faulkner.

Beau Michaud scored once and set up Joe Anderson for the other Brookings goal while Eric Hancock stopped 24 of 27 in goal for the Blizzard.

Janesville 4 Minot 1

The Jets carried a narrow 2-1 lead into the final frame but Zach Lavalle took over from there, doubling his team’s score with two for the Jets. He also assisted on an earlier goal. Brandon Schultz added a goal and assist and the other goal came from Kyle Patava. Matt Jurusik stopped 19 of 20 to earn the win in goal.

Christian Mohs notched the lone Minotauros goal and Atte Tolvanen handled 17 of 20 shots faced in goal.

NAHL Showcase – Sept. 18

Topeka 4 Johnstown 0

After the heroics of Drew Vogler the previous day, Matej Tomek showed the solid depth the Roadrunners possess in goal, stopping all of the 27 shots he faced for a shutout win giving the Roadrunners a 2-0 start to the tournament and a 4-0 start to the season.

Mike Gornall, Yu Hikosaka, Daniel Rzavsky and Ryan Polin collected the Roadrunner goals in the game that dropped the Tomahawks to 1-1 on both the tournament and the season.

Aberdeen 5 Michigan 1

The Wings bounced back from a tough loss the day prior, building a 5-0 lead through the third period and the lone consolation for the Warriors was a goal by Connor Durgan early in the third period shattering the shutout bid of Andrew Shortridge who stopped 15 of 16 in goal for the Wings.

Ronnie Hein scored twice in the win while Kyle Haak added a goal and assist. Other goals came from Drew Doyon and Brendan Riordan.

Austin 4 Keystone 0

The shots were close, Ice Miners holding a narrow 27-26 edge, but Jake Kielly wasn’t letting anything past him in the Ice Miners crease adding to the frustrations of Keystone who was blanked in 12 straight rounds in its shootout loss the previous day.

Alex Petterson, Brady Jones, Nathan Bastian and Brian Bachnak had the Bruins goals in the team’s second consecutive win.

Minot 1 Soo 3

Sandis Zolmanis evened the game at 1-1 with just less than five minutes to go in the first period and that stood up until Matt Menta gave the Eagles its first lead with 1:31 to play.

Chase Matson put it away, sinking a third for the Eagles into an empty Minotauros cage with 15 seconds to spare. Bruno Birzitis assisted on two of the Eagles goals and Jack Berry earned the win, stopping 19 of 20.

Nick Monfls collected the lone Minot goal with Atte Tolvanen stopping 19 of 21 in goal.

The Eagles boosted its record to 2-0 at the tournament and 3-1 in regular season play while Minot remained winless after two.

Bismarck 6 Springfield 1

After being shutout the previous day, the Bobcats exploded for six in this one, breaking open a 1-1 draw after a period with two unanswered second period markers and three more down the stretch.

Cullen Willox led the way with two goals and an assist and Jared Turcotte matched him with a goal and two helpers.

Nick Wallace and Jared Pike both assisted on a pair with other goals from Alex Strand, JM Piotrowski and Matt Perry. Alex Bitsakis stopped 17 of 18 to get the win in goal.

Lester Lancaster scored the lone Blues goal with Jeremy Wik stopping 27 of 33 in goal.

Brookings 5 Janesville 3

The Blizzard never had a goal of more than one until the third and David Radke’s goal for the Jets actually had this one locked up at 3-3 with 6:42 to go.

That lasted just 15 seconds though, Zach Glienke scoring his second to put the Blizzard up again and Connor Hutchins added another with exactly four minutes to go to clinch the win.

Beau Michaud and Jared Gaudreau both collected three assists for the Blizzard while T.J. Samec notched a goal and assist and Viktor Lindell had the other goal. Justin Ketola stopped 21 of 24 to pick up the win for the Blizzard.

Along with Radke, the Jets goet goals from Zach Lavalle and Kip Hoffman while Alex Smith assisted on two. Matt Jurusik handled the work in goal stopping 31 of 36.

Both teams sat at 1-1 in tournament play after the game while the Jets owned a 2-2 overall record.

Rio Grande Valley 3 Coulee Region 6

The Chill boosted its record to 2-0 with a nice win over the Killer Bees.

Trailing 1-0 after a period, the Chill responded with a 3-1 edge in both the middle and final frames for the win.

Cameron Cooper collected a goal and two assists in the win while Eddie Matsushima, Adam Lovick, Garrett Riebling and Richard Zehnal each adding a goal and assist. Dominik Florian scored the other goal and Jimmy Thomas stopped 25 of 28 to pick up the win in goal.

Dan Kucerovy and Brendon Dunning had a goal and assist, Anthony Croston scoring the other for the Bees.

Wichita Falls 4 MN Magicians 5

A third period uprising for the Magicians saw Marc Michaelis tie the game at 4-4 with 7:49 to go then Brady Heppner notch his second of the contest  3:17 from the final buzzer to grab the 5-4 win.

Nathan Krusko added a goal and assist in the win, Sam Becker setting up a pair and Matt Colford scoring the other Magician marker as Paige Skoog gave them a chance stopping 34 of 38, including the final dozen in the third, allowing the Magicians to pull out the win despite being outshot 12-6 down the stretch.

Kevin Charyszyn scored two for the Wildcats with others from Austin Hintgen and Alex Falconer.

Corpus Christi 0 MN Wilderness 1

Dan Litchke’s early goal stood up as the game winner as Ryan Anderson ran his shtutout string to six straight periods and 35 shots in goal for the Wilderness.

Luke Pickar was beaten just once on 14 shots in goal for the IceRays.

NAHL Showcase – Sept. 19

Soo 2 Brookings 4

Three straight goals in a nine minute stretch in the second period turned a 1-1 into a 4-1 lead he Blizzard never looked back from.

Alex Copa and Beau Michaud picked up a goal and assist apiece in the win, other goals scored by Oscar Odd and Zach Kramer while Eric Hancock picked up the win in goal stopping 26 of 28 Soo shots.

Eagles goals came from Trevor Cope and Bruno Birzitis while Sean Keating (40:00 17/21) and Jack Barry (20:00 3/3) each took a turn in goal.

Both teams entered the touranment’s final day with 2-1 records, the loss dropping the Eagles to 3-2 overall on the season.

Springfield 2 Minot 4

The Tauros trailed 2-0 after a period but responded with two unanswered second period goals and then two more in the third to break into the win column on the third day of the tournament.

Johnny Walker scored twice Christian Mohs adding a goal and assist while Jon Lizotte and Blake Lizotte both assisted on a pair for Minot. The other goal came from John Snodgrass and Tanner Holmes picked up the win in goal stopping 22 of 24,

Max Kalter and Nikita Prishyvalko had the Blues goals and both teams exited the contest with matching 1-2 records.

Janesville 1 Bismarck 4

The Jets and Bobcats both sat at 1-1 in the tournament entering this constest, Bismarck clinching this one with a pair of unanswered third period scores.

Logan Rivard and Anthony song both collected a goal and assist in the win, JM Piotrowski and Jared Turcotte scoring the others and Hunter Shepard stopping 23 of 24 shots in goal for the Cats.

Cullen Munson scored the lone Jets goal and Matt Jurusik stopped 25 of 28 in goal.

MN Wilderness 0 Wichita Falls 3

The Wilderness came up short for the first time, falling 3-0 to the Wild.

Wichita Falls got goals from Matt Koch, Tommy Apap and Max Reisinger with Cam Knight collecting two assists and Austin Shaw grabbing he shutout with 31 saves.

The Wilderness fell to 2-1 in the tournament and the season, Ryan Anderson stopping 22 of 25 shots in goal.

MN Magicians 4 Odessa 5

The only magic in this one was seeing a 3-1 lead disappear as the Jackalopes scored four of five goals in the final 18 minutes to pull out the narrow win and hand the Magicians its first loss of the season.

Derek Brown picked up four assists in the win for the Jackalopes, Razmuz Waxin-Engback scoring twice and assisting on another. Kenny Hausinger collected a goal and two assists with other goals for Zachary Feldman and Ryan McKellar.

Marc Michaelis led the Magicians with a goal and three assists, Jack Christensen scoring twice and Lukas Laub adding a goal and assist. Sam Becker had two assists.

Johnstown 2 Austin 8

The Bruins remained perfect with a lopsided win, outscoring the Tomahawks 4-1 in both the first and second periods.

Luke Dietsch scored a pair in the win, Landon Letwin, Trevor Boyd and Nic Sturm each adding a goal and assist. Hugo Gallet and Josh Wilkins both assisted on two and other goals came from Liam Feeney, JC Maclean and Jacob Kullberg. Zach Driscoll collected the easy win in goal, stopping 15 of 17 shots he faced.

Joe Drabin and Trevor Recktenwald had the Tomahawk goals.

Keystone 3 Aberdeen 4

The Wings appeared on its way with a 2-0 lead after a period but entered the third period all even with the Ice Miners at 2-2.

Jack Nile and Tucker DeYoung scored 15 seconds apart in the first minute of the final period to restore the two goal margin. Jon Hall pulled one back a couple of minutes later, but that was the last shot to get by Chad Catt in the Wings goal as they held on for the 4-3 edge, boosting their record to 2-1 at the tourney.

Kyle Haak and Matt Sherman had the other Wings goals, Matt Jones adding the other pair for the Ice Miners.

Michigan 0 Topeka 4

Matej Tomek collected a second straight shutout for the Roadrunners who remained perfect at 3-0 in the tournament and 5-0 overall while the Warriors fell to 0-3.

Mike Gornall picked up a goal and assisted on two others for the Roadrunners, Dan Brickley assisted on a pair with other goals for Will Scherer, Willie Brown and Cam Strong.

Tomek stopped all 19 shots he faced and Trevor Gorsuch handled 23 of 27 in goal for the Warriors.

Coulee Region 3 Lone Star 4

The Chill looked to build off of its unbeaten start to the season and carried a 2-0 lead out of the first period, but the Brahmas scored the next four before Blake Kelley rounded out the scoring for the Chill just past the halfway mark of the third.

Other Chill goals came from Isaac Thiesen and Eddie Matsushima and Adam Carlson stopped 20 of 24 shots he faced.

Eric Carreras and Cody Wickline both had a goal and assist for the Brahmas, Caleb Thompson setting up a pair and other goals for Hunter Stanley and Romah Uchyn.

NAHL Showcase – Sept. 20

Wichita Falls 4 Michigan 2

The Warriors left Blaine still in search of its first win after falling 4-2 to the Wildcats a wild finale that saw all six goals scored in the final period.

Tyger Howard stopped all 25 shots he faced in the first two periods and Austin Shaw wasn’t far behind with 20 stops for the Wildcats.

The floodgates opened in the final stanza though. Teams traded a goal each in the first 6:09, but the Wildcats notched the next two and the Warriors were never able to draw even after that.

Tyler Groat and Colin Horton had the Warrior goals and Kevin Charyszyn countered with two for the Wildcats with singles added by Austin Beaulieu and Matt Koch.

Lone Star 1 Janesville 4

The Jets evened its Showcase record at 2-2 and its overall record at 3-3 scoring unanswered goals in the first and second, then outscoring the Brahmas 2-1 in the third.

Brendon Schultz had a goal and assist for the winners and Mitch Fossier added a goal and assist. Adam Winborg and Drew Callin had the other goals and Matt Jurusik stopped all but one of the 13 shots he faced.

Sebastien Vidmar had the lone Brahmas goal.

Rio Grande Valley 0 Soo 5

The Soo wrapped up a three win tournament and boosted its overall record to 4-2 with the shutout over the Killer Bees.

Denver Pierce collected a goal and two assists to pace the offense while Trevor Cope scored a pair. Sandis Zolmanis and Bruno Birzitis both assisted on two and others were scored by Drew Holcombe and Chase Matson. Jack Berry stopped all 20 of the shots he faced.

Nick Schmitt was peppered with 47 shots in the Killer Bees goal and stopped 42 of them.

Amarillo 3 Springfield 2

The Blues fell to 1-3 with a tough loss to the Bulls.

Brady Tomlak’s powerplay goal with 1:15 to play made for an interesting finish, but the Blues would get no closer. Joshua Lammon had the other Springfield goal while assists on both goals went to Lester Lancaster and Kyle Meeh.

Mitchell Vanderburgh had a goal and assist for the Bulls with Adem Arifi adding two assists and other goals came from Charlie Combs and Brady Crabtree. Jacob Weathely made 30 saves in goal for the Bulls as the Blues outshot its opponents 32-19.

Brookings 3 MN Wilderness 4

The Blizzard carried a 3-2 edge into the final period, but the Wilderness dominated play in the final 20 minutes with a 17-7 edge in shots and 2-0 margin on the scoreboard.

Ivan Chukarov tied the game in the eighth minute of the period with his second goal of the night and Michael Kovach buried the game winner with exactly seven minutes to go. Billy Exell had the other Wilderness goal and also picked up an assist while Brandon Notermann set up a pair.

Beau Michaud had a goal and assist for the Blizzard with other goals for Viktor Lindell and Joe Anderson.

Minot 4 Wenatchee 3 (so)

The Wild owned a 3-1 lead in this one, but the Minotauros struck back to get within one halfway through the second setting the stage for Johnny Walker who tied it with his goal just 11 seconds into the third.

Teams were still deadlocked after regulation and went through seven rounds of shootout before Blake Lizotte completed the comeback with his goal to give the Tauros a 2-1 edge in the shootout. Lizotte also had a three point game earlier with assists on all three Tauro tallies. Kosistsyn had the other shootout goal for Minot while Christian Mohs paced them in regulation with two goals and a helper. Atte Tolvanen stopped 23 of 26 in the game, then six of seven in the shootout.

James Mathias, Ivan Bondarenko aqnd David Powlowski had the regulation goals for the Wild with Powlowski adding another in the shootout.

Bismarck 2 MN Magicians 4

Both teams entered this one having won two out of three and it was the Magicians who finished with the winning weekend, breaking open a 2-2 draw with two unanswered third period markers.

Nathan Krusko and Tony Uglem picked up a goal and assist for the Magicians with other goals for Lukas Laub and Braxton Collins. Vaughan Ahrens stopped 32 of 34 including all 18 Bobcats shots in the final period to nail down the win.

Cullen Willox scored both Bobcats goals  with assists to Cody Longie and Jared Spooner on both as well.

Topeka 7 Kenai River 1

The Roadrunners made it look easy on its way to a tournament sweep, scoring three unanswered first period goals and up 4-0 before the Brown Bears scored their first.

Jasen Fernsler scored twice and assisted on two others for the Roadrunners while Sly Sutter added two goals and one helper. Daniel Rzavsky helped out on three and Mike Gornall picked up a goal and assist. Jack Kelly and Joseph Hall had goals as well while Drew Vogler finished with 22 saves on 23 shots.

Matt Wilkins scored the lone Brown Bears goal.

Aberdeen 3 Coulee Region 2 (so)

Momentum shifted a couple of times in this one as the Wings carried a 1-0 lead out of the first with a goal by Michal Soucier only to have the Chill counter with two in the middle stanza.

Richard Zehnal scored one and picked up an assist on Adam Lovick’s goal as well.

Kyle Haak pulled the Wings even just before the halfway mark of the third.

Zehnal scored as the first shooter in the fifth round to keep the Chill alive, but Tanner Okeson buried his shot to lift the Wings to a 3-2 edge in both the shootout and the game.

Haak and Soucier had the other Wings goals with Lovick scoring for the Chill.

Andrew Shortridge stopped 25 of 27 to earn the win in goal for the Wings while Adam Carlson handled 16 of 18 in goal for the Chill.

 

Austin 9 Fairbanks 4

In the tournament finale, the Bruins actually trailed 2-1 after a period, but responded with a 5-1 edge in the middle period, then put the game away with a 3-1 margin down the stretch.

Landon Letwin, Josh Wilkins, Alex Petterson and Brian Bachnak each collectged a goal and assist in the game and Tanner Boyd had a pair of assists. Other goals came from Liam Feeney, Jacob Kullberg, Nico Sturm, Pat Lauderdale and Zach Kennedy while Jake Kielly stopped 18 of 22 to collect the win in goal.

For the Ice Dogs, Jacob Hetz, Ethan Samoza, Chandler Madry and Adam Anderson scored with Hetz adding an assist.