Rough opening day for NAHL’s Midwest Division at Blaine Showcase

By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Midwesthockey.info
The Wisconsin, Illinois and Minesota based clubs from the NAHL’s Midwest Division are hoping the first of four days at the annual Showcase tournament at Blaine, Minnesota’s National Sports Center Super Rinks is not a sampling of what is to come.
The five teams all came up short in their first Showcase tests, but gained some consolation as the three Alaska-based teams also dropped their first games at the four games in four days Showcase.
Following is a look at the results for the five Midwest based teams in the order they were played.

Chippewa Steel 2 @ Maine Nordiques 7
After opening the regular season with a loss at home, the Steel came up well short in its Showcase opener against the Nords.
Teams were even after 20 minutes at 2-2 but it was all Nordiques after that.
Tomas Trunda (’04/Prague, Czech Republic) and Cam Davis (’04/Butler, PA) fired the Steel goals and Carter Wishart (’05 Chaska, MN) stopped 27 shots in goal for the Steel who have surrendered 13 goals in its first two games.

Springfield Jr. Blues 3 @ Colorado Grit 5
The Blues were not in action the previous weekend and found themselves trailing 3-1 after the opening 20.

A pair of middle period goals had the Blues even, but the Grit responded with two more down the stretch.
Joel Kinnander (’03/Kalmar, Sweden), Alex Fendler (’04/St. Louis, MO) and Logan Ganz (’04/Freeburg, IL) fired the Springfield goals and Nick Bunch (’05/Canton, MI) made 32 saves in his junior hockey regular season debut.

Amarillo Wranglers 2 Janesville Jets 1
The Jets were one of two teams in the division that took their contest to overtime, but ultimately fell 2-1 against the Wranglers.
The Jets have taken points in all three games played so far this season. After a scoreless opening period, the Wranglers scored the lone goal of the second but Jake Merens (’06/Highland Park, IL) pulled the Jets even in the third before the Wranglers grabbed the win in overtime.
Matthew Alberti (’04/Hamburg, NY) stopped 31 of 33 shots in goal for the Jets.

Northeast Generals 6 Wisconsin Windigo 3
Playing their season opener, the Windigo held a 2-1 edge after a period, both scored by Daniil Dolzhenko (’04/Omsk, Russia) on set ups from Zach Burfoot (’03/Rockford, IL).
The Generals fired the next five before Tyler Grahme (’04/Bloomington, MN) added one late in the contest.

New Jersey Titans 5 @ Minnesota Wilderness 4 (ot)
A back and forth contest saw the Wilderness up 2-1 after a period but trailing 3-2 heading to the third frame. Teams were even at 4-4 after regulation and the overtime lasted just 18 seconds before Dominick Rivelli (’03/Highland Park, IL) ended it with his third goal of the game and fourth of the season.
Peteris Purmalis (’03/Liepaja, Latvia), Oliver Stumpel (’03/Torrance, CA) and Logan Nagle (’05/Post Falls, ID) each fired a goal with no information available on the other Wilderness marker.
Loris Uberti (’04/Martigny, Switzerland) stopped 20 shots in goal for the Wilderness.

Rounding out the Midwest on Day 1, the Kenai River Brown Bears were edged by the Oklahoma Warriors 4-3, the Anchorage Wolverines came up short 5-4 against the Rochester Jr. Americans and the Fairbanks Ice Dogs fell to 0-3 on the season with a 5-4 loss against the North Iowa Bulls.

Thursday games
Midwest Division teams will a shot at redemption on Thursday, the second day of the four-day event starting at 11:30 a.m. CDT when the Chippewa Steel takes on the Danbury Hat Tricks.
The Jets will take on the El Paso Rhinos at 2 p.m. with the Wisconsin Windigo facing off against the New Jersey Titans at 2:45. Fairbanks Ice Dogs face another tough opponent at 4:45 when they go up against the Maryland Black Bears, the Minnesota Wilderness taking the ice 15 minutes later against the Amarillo Wranglers.
The Anchorage Wolverines will play the New Mexico Ice Wolves at 5:30 p.m., the Springfield Jr. Blues face the Philadelphia Rebles at 7:45 p.m. and the final game of the day at 8:15 p.m. will pit the Kenai River Brown Bears against the Johnstown Tomahawks.