Rotheau leads Iron Rangers past Miners in opener

After scoring the goal that sent the game to overtime an ultimately, a shootout, Hunter Routheau, 20, from Green Bay rose the occasion once again as the only shooter of six to see his shot hit the mesh.

As a result, the Minnesota Iron Rangers opened its Superior International Junior Hockey League with a 5-4 win on the road at the Ear Falls Arena against the host English River Miners.

The Iron Rangers never led until Routheau sank his final shot. The Miners scored the game’s first two goals and carried a 3-1 lead out of the opening period.

Jackson Bond, 19, from Roseville, MN scored the opening period goal for the Rangers and Gus Abrahamson, 18, from Saginaw, MN notched the lone second period goal to get his team within one.

Tristyn Sabina, 19, from Kansas City, MO pulled the Iron Rangers even 9:26 into the third, but Brandon Schaber, from British Columbia notched a goal just 26 seconds later to put the Miners in front again and set the stage for Routheau’s tying tally with 4:08 to go.

Landon Materchuk scored two of the other Miner goals, Matthew O’Neil scoring the other.

In shot shootout, Routheau took the third and ultimately final shot for the Iron Rangers. The first two were taken by Bond and Alex Mimmack, 20, from Brainerd, MN.

Kyle Carignan, 19, from Oregon, WI stopped 28 of 32 Miner shots as well as all three of the shots faced in the shootout to nail down the win in goal. At the opposite end, Reid Kilburn, 19, from British Columbia handled 30 of 34 and two out of three in the shootout.