Lumberjacks stay perfect (NA3HL Sept. 26-28)

A key game as the NA3HL finished off the September portion of its schedule saw the Granite City Lumberjacks travel to White Bear Lake to take on the Steel in a battle of the West Division’s two remaining undefeated teams.

The Lumberjacks grabbed a 4-0 shutout win in that one then stayed on the road for a 7-0 win against the Flying Aces the following night in Little Falls, MN to boost its regular season record to 5-0-0-0.

Following is a run down of all of the NA3HL on the weekend of Sept. 26-28.

Sept. 26

Granite City 4 Twin City 0

The Lumberjacks grabbed a 1-0 first period lead against the Steel, and then piled on another three in the middle period to grab the win in White Bear.

Luke Richardson and Jared Spink collected a goal and assist each in the win with other goals scored by Travis Kothenbeutel and Blake Phenow. Sam Goetsch turned aside all of the 31 shots he faced in goal for the Lumberjacks.

Robbie Goor made 21 saves in goal for the Steel.

Alexandria 3 Breezy Point 4 

The host North Stars scored the first two goals and carried a 3-1 lead out of the opening period at Breezy Point Ice Arena, but the Blizzard chipped away with an unanswered second period goal and teams traded goals through the first eight minutes of the final period. But that was as close as the Blizzard would get in this one.

Tyler Larwood and Joe Costello led Breezy Point with a goal and assist apiece, Alex Mimmack and Felix Conrads also scoring goals while Dakota McDonald stopped 36 of 39 shots to pick up the win in goal.

Trent Olson scored a pair for the Blizzard and Bo Gronseth had two assists. Hunter Saunders scored the other goal and Tanner Elmore had 32 saves in goal for the Blizzard.

Topeka 2 Texas 1 

The Capitals shrugged off the close losses of the previous weekend and hit the road for Texas, picking up its first win of the season at NYTEX Sports Center against the Brahmas

All three goals came in the final period, the first two by Hank Roers giving the visitors a nice lead before Nick Nitta shattered a combined shutout bid of Bailey Aust (51:55 20/21) and Brett Malkmus (8:15 4/4) with just under two minutes to go in the game. Qunton Reynolds stopped 22 of 24 in goal for the Brahmas.

North Iowa 2 St. Louis 4 

The defending league champion Bulls found themselves in an unfamiliar position after falling to 0-2 on the season following a 4-2 loss to the Jr. Blues at Affton Ice Arena.

The Bulls actually grabbed the early lead with the only goal of the first, but teams were even at 2-2 heading to the third and the home side took over from there with a pair of Franky Melton goals in the final period standing up as the difference in the contest.

Sam Maddox and Steven Farina scored the other Blues goals, Tommy Heinzman assisting on a pair. William Hindle though was the hardest working guy in this one, handling 53 of 55 shots against him in the Jr. Blues goal.

Zachery Johnston and Joe Burgmeier scored for the Bulls and Kurt Halbach assisted on both.

Sept. 27

Peoria 3 Chicago 2 

Tyler Shures’ goal early in the third period lifted the visiting Mustangs past the Bulldogs 3-2 at the Romeoville Rink.

Other Mustangs goals came from Marshall Gevers and Andrew Scofield and Chance Homerin collected a couple of assists. Ross Lipic picked up the win in goal with 24 saves.

Michael Ellis and Dane Kalas had the Bulldogs goals with Sam Harden also making 24 saves.

Cleveland 3 Cincinnati 5

Down 3-2 entering the final period, the Swords took advantage of home ice, scoring three times down the stretch at Sports Plus in Cincinnati for a 5-3 win over the Jr. Lumberjacks in this all-Ohio battle.

Drew Hill had three assists in the game for the Swords while Hunter Schneider and Andrew Bond scored two each. Gennadi Zabeline picked up the other goal while Brandon Kruger stopped 22 of 25, including all eight he faced in the third period to get the win in goal.

Avery Huibregtse and John Barlow each assisted on a pair for the Lumberjacks and Tyler Dalton added a goal and assist. Daniel Goodwin and Ryker Barber had the other Lumberjacks goals and Alec Rounds stopped 24 shots in goal.

Toledo 3 Southern Tier 5

The Cherokee made the trip to Jamestown and had the game knotted at 3-3 after a goal by David Bogard just past the halfway mark of the final period. But that set the stage for the game winner by Cody Maulsby of the Express with just 5:20 to go and then Jamie Collins’ second of the night in the final minute into an empty goal.

Lunke Sunde and Maulsby ended the game with a goal and assist, the other goal scored by Brandon Desrosiers and Justin Adriacco adding two assists. Tyler Geloneck picked up the win in goal with 25 saves.

Cam Schwartz led the Cherokee with three assists, Aaron Roschinsky adding a goal and assist and other goals from Bogart and Tyler Zalecki. Glen Bates stopped 29 shots in goal for the Cherokee.

Pittsburgh 2 Metro 3 

The Jets hosted the Vengeance at Lakeland Rink 1 and scored two of its three goals in a 39 second span in the third period.

Cody Jones and Jake Sealy both scored and added an assist and Cooper McLean scored the other for the Jets. Kameron Limburg stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal.

Eli Lynn scored both Vengeance goals and Gavin Cummings assisted on both. Jacob Stack stopped 23 shots in goal for Pittsburgh.

Twin City 5 Breezy Point 1 

The Steel bounced back from its defeat a night earlier with a big win at Breezy Point.

The Steel scored three times in the final period to open up a 5-0 cushion before Ryan Mezera gained a small consolation, shattering the shtutout bit of Darren Jones with 8:16 to go.

Jones went on to a 34 save performance and Kyle Wagner paced the offense with two goals and an assist. Jordan Pitlick also scored twice and the other came from Nicholas Campbell.

La Crosse 4 Wisconsin 3 

Their game was listed as postponed the previous night in La Crosse, but the Freeze grabbed a 4-3 win at Hartmeyer Arena in Madison the following night.

Taylor Trapp led the way with two goals and an assist for the Freeze, Zach Lawson adding two assists. Jared Bromberg and Augusts Veidenbaums had the other goals and Cameron Scheuren was kept busy, making 48 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Freeze.

Connor Morgan scored twice for the Whalers, Nathan Viberg adding a goal and assist while Evan Moyse (45:05 31/33) and Daniel Volkman (14:54 6/8) split the work in goal.

Granite City 7 Minnesota 0 

The Lumberjacks picked up its second shutout of the weekend, this time Kendall Meyer handling 26 shots for the win.

Blake Phenow scored three times in the game and assisted on another while Travis Kothenbeutel scored once and set up three others.  Travis Kemp had two assists, David Kenney adding a goal and assist and other goals coming from Tanner Skaja, Alek Groth and Dallas Marvin.

Jason Gosnell made 41 saves in goal for the Flying Aces.

Topeka 6 Texas 2 

The Capitals grabbed another win at the NYTEX Sports Center taking over after a first period that saw teams knotted at 2-2 with an unanswered middle period tally by Trey Opack that stood up as the game winner, then three more for insurance down the stretch.

Kyle Rimbach led the way for the Capitals with three goals while Opack and Dylan Wattles both picked up a goal and assist. The other goal came from Steve MacIver and Brett Malkmus picked up the win in goal stopping 35 of 37.

Dixon Whitehead and Conor Durkin both scored for Texas.

North Iowa 2 St. Louis 0

The Bulls grabbed its first win of the season thanks to some shutout goaltending from David Johnson who stopped all of the 20 Jr. Blues’ shots he faced at the Affton Ice Rink.

The Bulls meanwhile triggered 36 shots and beat Cooper Cathron twice — first period markers for Killian Gray and Colton Budreau.

Sept. 29

Pittsburgh 4 Metro 5

The Jets moved over the .500 mark with a home ice win at the Lakeland Rink to wrap up the weekend.

The Vengeance scored the lone first period goal, but Metro took over with four straight in the second, including a natural hat trick by Kevin Shand and carried a 4-2 lead into the third.

The Vengeance potted two in 28 seconds to tie the contest with just over five minutes to play, but the final cheer went to the home team as Zach Koonce sank the game winner with his second of the night, 3:!5 from the final buzzer.

For Pittsburgh, Cody Black and Parker Henry each picked up a goal and assist, other goals scored by Michael Straub and Robert Ferrari.

Cleveland 6 Cincinnati 4 

The Junior Lumberjacks rallied back from the previous days defeat to earn a split in Cincy with John Barlow’s three goals and one assist effort leading the charge.

The Swords scored first in the contest, but the Lumberjacks carried a 3-1 lead into the second and added one more unanswered tally in the middle frame.

Three goals in the opening 9:30 of the third had the Swords even at 4-4, but the last two in this one both belonged to Barlow — the game winner with 8:27 to go and an insurance tally about three minutes later.

Tyler Dalton chipped in a goal and two assists for the winners, Tyler Houmard setting up a pair and others scored by Ryker Barber and Patrick Briggs.

For the Swords, Drew Hill, Andrew Kroska, Andrew Bend and Marc Anderson scored the goals, Hill and Kroska both adding an assist as well.

Peoria 2   Chicago 8

The Bulldogs bounced back in a big way in the wrap up game at Romeoville Rink, jumping into a 4-1 first period lead and not letting up in the second with another 3-1 margin.

Scott Coash Jr. fired a hat trick for the Bulldogs and added an assist while Dane Kalas picked up two goals and two assists. Niko Moulakelis also had two goals with a helper, Toms Taruins setting up three and the other goal, along with an assist coming from Henry Hearon.  Troy Pierce stopped 31 of 33 Mustang shots to pick up the win in goal.

Marc Peters and Tyler Shures had the Peoria goals.

Toledo 2 Southern Tier 3 (ot)

The Express scored the first two goals in this one at Jamestown, but the Cherokee bounced back with a late powerplay goal in the second period, then a tying goal 6:23 into the third.

But the Express also scored last, Luke Grossman burying the game winner with a shorthanded goal 72 seconds into the overtime period.

Grossman and Elijah Williams ended up with a goal and assist for the Express and Luke Sunde scored the other while Benjamin Sakaria handled 35 of 37 shots to pick up the win in goal.

Cam Schwartz and Zach Swanson notched the Cherokee goals and Aaron Callan stopped 30 of 33 shots in goal.

Topeka 4 Texas 3 (ot)

The Capitals made it a three game sweep in Texas, but the final win was the toughest, Colin O’Connor notching his second of the night in the fourth minute of overtime to lift the Capitals to the win at NYTEX Sports Center.

Opack also picked up an assist in the game, Alex Sauer adding a goal and three helpers and Terry Opack collecting a goal and assist. Bailey Aust stopped 22 of 25 to pick up the overtime win in goal.

For the Brahamas, Paulo DiGenova, Zach McPherson and Austin Davis each picked up a goal and Tristan Canter stopped 39 of 43 Topeka shots.

Twin City 3 Minnesota 4 (ot)

Jake Mullendore scored three goals in this one and set up the other for the Flying Aces. His second tied the game at 3-3 in the opening minute of the third period and the hat trick goal brought a sudden end to the contest, 35 seconds into the overtime segment.

Bradee Thompson and Matt Olson both assisted on a pair and Victor Lombardi had the other Flying Aces goal while Tanner Balk stopped 35 of 38 shots to pick up the overtime win in goal.

For the Steel, Jared Erickson scored one and assisted on another with other goals for Paul Stehr and Kyle Wagner. Alec Horwitz handed 29 of 33 between the pipes for the Steel.