Culot’s OT goal lifts Rhinos to win against Flyers

Both the Kalkaska Rhinos and Alpena Flyers were coming off of a pair of earlier losses when they wrapped up the weekend at Northern Lights Arena in Alpena on Sunday.

Both teams ultimately collected points as the Rhinos Matt Culot, 19, from Massachusetts lifted the Rhinos to a 5-4 win with his second of the game 3:18 into overtime.

The host Flyers scored first in this one as Adrej Fasko, 19, from Slovakia opened the scoring, but the Rhinos owned a 2-1 lead by the end of the period and carried a 4-1 cushion into the third only to have the Flyers strike back with three to force the overtime.

Culot also added an assist for a three point game; Sasha Minouchine, 17, from New Jersey and Robert Cerepak, 20, from New Jersey both adding a goal and two assists. Justin Erman, 19, from Fort Wayne, IN scored the other Rhinos goal and Austin Hannaford, 19, from Alberta made 24 saves to pick up the win.

Jared Kwiatkowski, 20, from Alpena  led the Flyers with a goal and two assists; Samuel Charboneau, 20, from Cheboygan, MI scored a goal and added an assist and Sergei Merzlov, 20, from Belarus picked up  two assists. Nic Baranyai, 18 from Hillman MI scored the other goal and Bret LeTourneau, 20, from Alpena, made 35 saves in goal.