Lewis scores four, leads Blades past Energy

A four-goal and one assist effort for Chase Lewis, 19, from North Carolina went a long way to leading the Steele County Blades to a 7-4 at Blaine against the host Energy in United States Premier Hockey League-Midwest action on Saturday (Oct. 3).

In other USPHL-Midwest action league frontrunners kept their fast pace as the Chicago Cougars earned an 8-0 shutout win at home against the Decatur Blaze in the West and the Tri City Icehawks downed the host Motor City Hawks 4-1 in the East. Kalkaska Rhinos held off the visiting Michigan Wild 6-4; Alpena Flyers downed the host Detroit Fighting Irish 7-4; Marquette Royales were shutout in the Dells 7-0 by the Ducks; Forest Lake Lakers doubled the St. Croix Valley Magicians 4-2 and Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings got by the host Illiana Blackbirds 3-1.

Blades 7 at Energy 4

The Blades held a 3-1 edge through both the first and second periods in this one to carry a 6-2 cushion into the final frame and Lewis notched his fourth early in the period to clinch the win before the host battled back with a pair.

Along with Lewis, the Blades got a goal and two assists from both Jaeger Zwygart, 20, from Kansas City, MO and Wilson Anderle, 20, from Hanover, MN. Drew Gustavson, 18, from Winona, MN collected three assists and the other Blades goal was scored by Clayton Huss, 19, from Pleasant Hill, IA.

Niko Walsh, 19, from Chanhassen, MN scored two for the Energy and Jacob Kantor, 18, from New York assisted on a pair. Other Energy goals came from Jason Roeske, 20, from Blaine and Nate Kuta, 19, from Machesney Park, IL.

Hunter Marsh, 20, from Colorado stopped 36 shots to claim the win in goal for the Blades and Blair Sanders, 20, from Kansas City, MO turned aside 35 shots in goal for the Energy.

Next action for the Blades will be Fridyay (Oct. 9) when Dells Ducks pay a visit and the Energy will be back in action Sunday (Oct. 4) at Forest Lake.

Blaze 0 at Cougars 8

The Decatur Blaze stuck with the Chicago Cougars for most of the first 40 minutes before things started slipping away. The Cougars still owned just a 1-0 lead before connecting twice in the final five minutes of the middle period and then piling on another five in the final 20 minutes. Jessie Heisz, 18, from Janesville, WI meanwhile stopped all 12 of the shots he faced to pick up the shutout in goal for the Cougars at the Sears Centre.

Offensively, Willy Doremus, 18, from Colorado paced the attack with a goal and two assists while Cody Hrabak, 18, from Palos Hills, IL scored twice while Henry Laukannen, 17, from Holt, MI and Gavin Nickerson, 20, from Oregon both picked up a goal and an assist. Other Cougars goals came from: Hunter Schiffman, 18, from Rockford, IL; Matthew Letmanski, 17, from Wheaton, IL and Andrew Van Dyke, 19, from Elmhurst, IL.

Tyler Hubbard, 17, from Calumet, MI made 35 stops in goal for the Blaze.

The Blaze and Cougars will wrap up a three-game weekend series Sunday (Oct. 4) at the Sears Centre

Icehawks 4 at Hawks 1

Teams were even early in the middle period as Austin Caryl, 18, from Ann Arbor, MI put the visiting Tri City Icehawks up with the only goal of the first, but Bryce Peplinski, 20, from Sandusky fired the only shot that would beat Icehawks goaltender Cody Foster, 20, from California 5:32 into the second. to get the host Motor City Hawks even at McCann Arena.

Caryl’s second, scored with 5:18 to go in the middle frame stood up as the game winner and John Matson, 18, from Alaska added another before the end of the frame, Logan Gatza, 20, from Frankenmuth, MI finished off the scoring with an empty netter for the Icehawks with 60 seconds to go.

Stephan Demmers, 17, from Clawson, MI made 39 saves in goal for the Hawks.

Tri City will visit Marquette Royales for its next game on Friday (Oct. 9) and the Motor City Hawks will be at Traverse City on the same night.

Wild 4 at Rhinos 6

The host Kalkaska Rhinos scored early and often through the first two periods, but a third period uprising by the visiting Michigan Wild, including two goals in 19 seconds with the goaltender on the bench made things much more interesting down the stretch.

Colton Coates, 19, from Ontario scored twice for the Rhinos and Matt Culot, 19, from Massachusetts collected a goal and two assists, Sean Schirripa, 19, from Pennsylvania adding a goal and a helper. Daystar Smallboy, 18, from Alberta and Darren Aikens, 20, from Floirda scored the other Rhino goals and the work in goal was split by Austin Hannaford, 19, from Alberta and Caleb Barris, 18, from Martins Ferry, OH. They combined on a winning 30-save effort for the Rhinos.

Frank Barabas, 17, from South Lyon, MI scored three times for the Wild, the other goal coming from Colton James, 19, from Clarkston, MI. Kory Dombrowski, 20, from Florida made 31 stops in goal for the Wild.

Michigan Wild moves on to play host to Alpena Flyers on Friday (Oct. 9) and the Rhinos will also be at home on the same night to take on the Detroit Fighting Irish.

Flyers 7 at Fighting Irish 4 

The host Detroit Fighting Irish appeared in control early, carrying a 3-1 lead out of the first period at the Brownstown Sports Arena against the Alpena Flyers, but the guests chipped away, getting within one (4-3) in the second and piling up four unanswered third period goals to snatch it away. The Flyers grabbed its first lead just before the halfway mark of the period and added two more later, including the clincher with five seconds to go.

Andrej Fasko, 19, from Slovakia scored three times and set up another for the Flyers and Rhett McDonald, 16, from Alpena chipped in four assists. Nic Baranyai, 18, from Hillman, MI scored two, Samuel Charboneau, 20, from Cheboygan, MI and the other goal scored by Hunter Tolsdorf, 16, from Alpena.

Christian Ramage, 20, from Taylor, MI scored two and assisted on another for the Fighting Irish, Chase Tackett, 19, from Brownstown, MI adding a goal and assist and the other goal scored by Eric Long, 20, from Woodhaven, MI.

Bret LeTourneau, 20, from Alpena, made 52 saves to grab the win for the Flyers while the Fighting Irish split the workload between Ronnie Shocker, 18, from Warren, MI and Austin Stefan, 17, from Ypsilante, MI — the two combining on a 25 save effort.

Flyers will stay in Detroit to take on the Fighting Irish again Sunday (Oct. 4).

Royales 0 at Ducks 7

The host Dells Ducks put this one away quick, using a 25-shot first period to pile up a 4-0 lead and then adding one in the middle frame and two more down the stretch while Tyler Arneson, 19, from Reedsburg, WI stopped all 19 of the Marquette Royales shots he faced to grab the shutout win in goal for the Ducks at the Poppy Waterman Ice Arena.

Riley Biel, 19, from Island Lake, IL picked up a goal and two assists for the Ducks, David Kaplan, 18, from Vernon Hills, IL and Andy Williams, 19, from Texas each adding a goal and a helper. Alex Radcliffe, 19, from Massachusetts collected three assists and Sherman Mowery, 19, from Kentwood, MI set up two. Other Ducks goals came from: Wyatt Neilsen, 19, from Sioux Falls, SD; Felix Conrads, 20, from Naperville, IL; Josh Repaal, 18, from Tomah, WI and Artem Nekrasov, 19, from Russia.

Kyle Mugica, 20, from California and Kyle Chmielecki, 18, from Duluth, WI split the work in goal for the Royales, combining to turn aside 34 shots.

The Ducks will head to Owatonna, MN to play the Steele County Blades Friday (Oct. 9) and the Royales will play host to the Tri City Icehawks on the same night.

Magicians 2 at Lakers 4

Both the St. Croix Valley Magicians and Forest Lake Lakers scored once in the first period and all of the other scoring came in the middle frame as the hosts earned a 4-2 win at the Forest Lake Sports Center.

Brian Miller, 19, from New Jersey scored twice for the Lakers, Drew Olson, 18, from Hugo, MN and Anton Minaev, 19, from Russia both assisting on two and Zachary Remers, 20, from Florida collected a goal and an assist in the game. Caleb Santa Maria, 19, from Georgia scored the other Lakers goal and Aleks Zakirov, 18, from Russia stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal.

Yannick Zehnder, 18, from Switzerland and Peter Karavos, 20, from Rolling Meadows both collected a goal and an assist and Jason Footlick, 18, from California, stopped 26 shots in goal for the Magicians.

Lakers will be back in action against the Blaine Energy Sunday (Oct. 4) while the Magicians will get a long break, next game at home against the Lakers on Oct. 15.

Riverkings 3 at Blackbirds 1

Kevin Van Bokkelen, 18, from Hudson, OH sank his second goal of the game with 7:56 to play in the third period to break a 1-1 draw and Reed Kaiser, 19, from Wyoming pushed the clincher into an empty net with seven seconds remaining as the visiting Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings grabbed a 3-1 win against the Illiana Blackbirds at the Midwest Training and Ice Center.

Joe Starcevich, 19, from Saint John IN fired the lone shot of 17 to beat Riverkings’ goaltender Link Ferch, 19, from Texas and Alexander Meagher, 20, from Pierre, SD turned aside 28 shots in goal for the Blackbirds.

The River Kings will move on to play host to Decatur Blaze Friday (Oct. 9) and the Blackbirds will make the trip to Forest Lake on the same night.