NA3HL Bulls take opener on the road

The defending Tier 3 National champion North Iowa Bulls traveled to Oregon, WI Friday and opened its 2015-16 season with a 5-1 win over the host Wisconsin Whalers at Oregon Ice.

In other NA3HL games invloving Midwest teams: Wooster Oilers earned a 5-2 win against the visiting Southern Tier Express; Toledo Cherokee remained perfect with a 3-1 win at home against the Metro Jets; Rochester dropped its first ever game in the NA3HL, falling to the Twin City Steel 6-2 on the road; Evansville Thunderbolts made its league debut, dropping a 5-4 decision to the Point Mallard Ducks 5-4 and Granite City Lumberjacks shutout the Breezy Point North Stars 5-0 on home ice.

Bulls 5  at Whalers 1

The visitors scored the first two goals and added another in the middle period before Nathan Viberg, 19, from Orland Park, Il scored the only Whalers goal of the night.

Bulls added two more before the end of the second and the final period was scoreless.

Adam Orn, 19, from Ramsey, MN: Adam Maxfield, 19, from Austin, MN; Mitch Parsons, 18, from Grandville, MI; Jack Strang, 20, from Mendota Heights, MN and David Min, 19, from Washington scored the Bulls goals while Tom Lindgren, 20, from Janesville, WI and Marshall Barnes, 18, from Edina, MN both had two assists in the game.

David Johnson, 19, from Bloomington made 18 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Bulls and Evan Moyse, 19, from Olmstead Twp, OH stopped 40 of 45 for the Whalers.

Southern Tier Express 2 at Wooster Oilers 5

Most of the scoring in this one came in the opening frame as the Express jumped into a 2-0 lead by the 5:18 mark only to have the home side rally back and carry a 3-2 cushion out of the opening segment.

Single goals in the middle and final period padded the lead for the Oilers.

Tyler Houmard, 20, from Canton, OH scored twice for the Oilers, Mike Zenone, 18, from North Ridgeville, OH and Camron Teel, 18, from Alaska both adding a goal and an assist. The other goal came from Daniel Goodwin, 20, from St. Clair Shores, MI.

Elijah Williams, 20, from Pennsvylvania and Tyler Groth, 18, from South Lyon, MI scored the Southern Tier goals.

Ryan Spencer, 18, from Massachusetts stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oilers and Tyler Geloneck, 17, from Bellbrook, OH stopped 26 of 31 in the Express goal.

The Bulls and Whalers are scheduled to play again on Saturday (Sept. 19).

Jets 1 at Cherokee 3

After home and away wins against the Oilers the previous weekend, the Cherokee boosted its record to 3-0 with a home win against the visiting Metro Jets.

A first period goal by Nolan Stanley, 19, from Idaho and second period markers by Tyler Zalecki, 20, from Northwood, OH and Nick Nappi, 18, from Florida had the Cherokee up 3-0 heading to the third period.

Pearce Vance, 20, from Berkley, MI shattered the shutout bid of Glen Bates, 20, from Ida, MI with the only shot of 51 in the game to get past him for the Jets.

Kameron Limburg, 20, from Howell, MI stopped 25 of 28 shots in goal for the Jets.

The Cherokee moves on to a series at Cincinnati Saturday (Sept. 19) and the Jets will host the West Michigan Wolves.

Ice Hawks 2 at Steel 6

The Rochester Ice Hawks made its debut in the NA3HL, but ran into a potent Steel club at the White Bear Arena in the Twin Cities.

The Steel owned a 2-0 first period lead and both teams added one in the second. The Steel piled on another three before the Ice Hawks pulled one more back late in the contest.

Ryan Hartzell, 18, from Tartan, MN picked up a goal and two assists for the Steel, Zak Lambrecht, 18, from Stacy, MN and Jared Erickson, 19, from Waupaca, WI each adding a goal and assist and Tristan Mayer, 18, from Woodbury, MN set up a pair.

Other Steel goals came from: Marc Sahli (no hometown listed); Trevor Woytcke, 17, from Mound, MN and Kyle Wagner, 19, from St. Francis, MN.

Colby DeCarlo, 18, from Des Moines, IA and Trey McMillan, 20, from Texas both scored for the Ice Hawks.

Gunnar Howg, 18 from Duluth, MN,  made 27 stops to collect the win for the Steel and Sam Nelson, 20, from Eau Claire, WI, stopped 49 of 55 in goal for the Ice Hawks.

Teams are scheduled to play a return match Saturday (Sept. 16) in Rochester.

Ducks 5 at Thunderbolts 4

The Ducks spoiled the league and home debut for the Thunderbolts, who scored with 45 seconds to go to make for an interesting finish.

The Ducks scored the first two goals of the game and carried a 2-1 lead out of the first period, both teams doubling their scores in the middle period and then trading goals in the third before the last minute marker to get back to within a shot.

Jon Grimm, 19, from Newburg, IN paced the Bolts with a goal and two helpers, Brett Howard Jr., 19, from Texas adding a goal and assist.  Brian Crink, 20, from Noblesville, IN and Brandon Bornkamp, 18, from Fort Wayne, IN had the other goals.

Brian Forness, 19, from New Jersey stopped 41 of 46 shots in goal for the Thunderbolts.

Jonathan Meakins, 19, from Colorado scored twice for the Ducks with others from Josh Hamilton, 19, from North Carolina, Stephen Coulter, 19, from Farmington Hills, MI and Justin Dunn, 19, from Trenton, MI. Cooper Seedott, 19, from Northville, MI, made 20 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ducks.

The same two teams will line up for another game tomorrow (Sept. 19)

North Stars 0 at Lumberjacks 5

Four straight second period goals turned a 1-0 edge into a lopsided 5-0 win for the Lumberjacks who got perfect goaltending from Mac Berglove, 19, from Elk River, MN. He stopped all of the 19 shots he faced.

Tyler Mros, 20, from Big Lake, MN scored twice for the winners, Lucas Carroll, 18, from St. Francis, MN and Adam Marty, 20, from Somerset WI both picking up a goal and assist. Spencer Nelson, 19, from Clearwater Minnesota, set up a pair and the other goal came from Tanner Skaja, 20, from St. Cloud, MN.

Magnus Lindhe, 19, from Stockholm, Sweden and Wes Paupore, 19, from Kingsford, MI split the work in goal for the North Stars, combining to turn aside 24 of 29 Lumberjack shots.

Both teams are scheduled to play the following day as well, the North Stars hosting the Minnesota Flying Aces while the Lumberjacks are home to the Alexandria Blizzard.