Snyder and Hamilton lead Cherokee to shootout win

Midwest based teams played in seven North American 3 Hockey League games on Friday (Oct. 28) and all but one of them was decided by a single goal.

The most exciting finish of the night might have been at Team Toledo Ice House as the host Toledo Cherokee got shootout goals from Ben Hamilton, 20, from Toledo and Tristin Snyder, 19, from Oregon, OH to complete a solid comeback against the Wooster Oilers.

In other games involving Midwest based teams on Friday:

The New Ulm Steel earned a 3-2 win in overtime against the visiting Wisconsin Whalers at New Ulm Civic Center; West Michigan Wolves edged the Southern Tier Express at The Rink at Battle Creek; the host Evansville Thunderbolts earned a 3-2 decision against the Nashville Jr. Predators at Swonder Ice Arena; Willmar Warhawks paid a visit to Runestone Community Center and collected a 5-4 win against the Alexandria Blizzard; Breezy Point North Stars held off the Granite City Lumberjacks 4-3 at Breezy Point Hockey Center and the North Iowa Bulls collected a 4-1 win at North Iowa Arena against the Rochester Ice Hawks.

Oilers 2 at Cherokee

The visitors took control of this one early as Carmon Teel, 20, from Alaska put his team on the board 65 seconds in and Cole Barney, 18, from Fort Wayne, IN added another with just under two minutes to play in the opening period. That was the last time the Oilers would get anything past Roman Malkov, 19, from Russia, in the Cherokee goal though.

Hamilton got the home side on the board just before the four minute mark of the second period and Anthony Weinrich, 17, from Toledo, OH tied it up with 7:09 to play in the third.

Nothing was settled in the overtime period and the shootout was over quick as Hamilton and Snyder both scored while Malkov stopped both Oilers shooters.

Creighton Furber, 20, from Shelby Township, MI made 31 saves in goal for the Oilers and Malkov wrapped up with 37 saves, plus the two in shootout.

Whalers 2 at Steel 3 (ot)

Fritz Belisle, 18, from Red Wing, MN lifted the Steel to victory with his sixth goal of the season 2:34 into overtime, completing a rally back from an earlier 2-1 deficit.

Tim O’Connor, 19, from New York fired the lone goal of the first period for the home team, but the Clayton Brown, 19, from Virginia, MN and Ben Ratner, 19, from Elk Grove Village, IL scored for the Whalers about three minutes apart and the visitors carried a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Jacob Padley, 19, from Madison, WI scored the equalizer for Steel in the ninth minute of the third period.

Brady Boudreau, 18, from California made 22 saves to pick up the win in goal for Steel while Elliot Gerth, 19, from Kankakee, IL turned aside 42 in goal for the Whalers.

Express 2 at Wolves 3

Lucas Duckstein, 18, from Ontario and Nicholas Guy, 18 from Mason, MI scored goals 1:47 apart to give the host West Michigan Wolves a 2-0 lead after a period but Arttu Rajamaki, 18, from Finland cut the lead in half early in the second.

Alex Lafrate, 17, from Northville, MI responded with the third Wolves goal just over two minutes later and it stood up as the game winner as Cameron Trejchel, 16, from Pennsylvania notched one for the Express, but the visitors could not get another one past Wolves’ goaltender, Sam Woznicki, 19, from Walled Lake, MI as he went on to a 37-save win.

Harrison Vangellow, 20, from New York stopped 17 shots for the Express.

Thunderbolts 3 at Jr. Predators 2

Dylan Fitzgerald, 17, from Tennessee gave the host Preds a chance with his goal 4:41 from the final buzzer, but James Fry, 19, from Columbus, IN held the fort the rest of the way, picking up a 22-save win in goal for the Thunderbolts.

Jon Grimm, 20, from Newburgh, IN started it off for the Bolts, scoring the lone first period goal for the visitors and Drew Wynn, 18, from Fort Wayne, IN added another 4:58 into the second period.

Logan Orem, 19, from Tennessee, got the Preds on the board with 7:20 to play in the third, but Matt McElroy, 19, from Kentucky,  restored the two-goal cushion for the Bolts with his goal just before the halfway mark of the third.

Mason Koster, 19, from Vermont, stopped 18 of 21 in goal for the Preds.

WarHawks 5 at Blizzard 4

Teams battled back and forth in this one right down to the final minute as Riley Tigrett, 20, from Pennsylvania finally gave the visiting Warhawks its first two-goal cushion of the evening with his second of the night at 5-3 with 43 seconds to play.

Mack Strong, 18, from Alexandria, MN fired the final goal but with just eight seconds left, there wasn’t enough time for an equalizer.

Both teams scored once in each of the first two periods. Kyle Wendorf, 20, from Richfield, MN, got the visitors on the board with his goal 4:58 into the game but Tony Haley, 19, from Grand Forks, MN tied it up just 91 seconds later for the Blizzard.

The Blizzard took a turn with the lead as Tosten Mann, 19, from Fergus Falls, MN scored with 3:06 to play in the middle period only to have Tigrett pull the WarHawks even 25 seconds later.

Max Oelkers, 19, from Warroad, MN  put the WarHawks in front 79 seconds into the final period but it was tied again 1:54 later on a goal by Caleb Anderson, 20, from Sioux Falls, SD.

Kane Toriumi, 19, from California but the WarHawks in front to stay with his goal scored with 7:17 to play.

Alexander Cathcart, 18, from California picked up the win in goal with a 46 save effort for Willmar and Brey Effertz, 18, from Minot, ND stopped 13 for the Blizzard.

Lumberjacks 3 at North Stars 4

Magnus Lindhe, 20, from Sweden kicked out 48 saves for the host North Stars to help lead the team to its win on Friday night.

The visitors held a brief lead as Owen Sikich, 19, from California opened the scoring 7:31 into the game.

That lasted 2:41 until Austin Langworthy, 19, from Mankato pulled the North Stars even and Nikolas Boyer, 20, from Minoqua, WI scored later in teh period to give the North Stars a 2-1 lead heading to the second period.

Braden Altena, 19, from St. Cloud scored to even the score 31 seconds into the second period but Josh Laven, 20, from Hopkins, MN put the home team in front again later in the period.

Trystin Sabina, 20, from Kansas City, MO scored his 10th of the season to give the North Stars some breathing room 35 seconds into the final period but Will Mix, 20, from Washington,  made it a one-goal contest again with 11:50 to play. That was as close as the Axemen would get in this one though.

David Mulligan, 18, from Moundsview, MN turned aside 29 shots in goal for the Lumberjacks.

Ice Hawks 1 at Bulls 4

Coming off of a 50-plus goal weekend in Chicago the previous week, the Bulls played through a scoreless first period before taking control of the match against the Ice Hawks with three in the middle period.

Connor Clemons, 18, from Savage, MN opened the scoring for the Bulls just seven seconds into the middle frame and that stood up all of the way to the 16:01 mark when Steven Mordini, 19, from Baraboo, WI doubled the lead at the 16:01 mark. Logan Miller, 18, from Menomonie, WI fired another just 29 seconds later.

The IceHawks got on the board with a goal from Matthew Bembenek, 17, from Danville, IN 2:24 from the end of the second period.

Owen Larson, 20, from Minneapolis, MN  scored a first minute goal in the final period for insurance and that was more than enough for R.J. Pluhar, 19, from Glen Carbon, IL  who turned in a 24-save effort for the win in goal.

Drew Schenkenberg, 18, from New Brighton, MN stopped 30 shots in goal for the Ice Hawks.

Saturday Games

Most of the teams will face rematches at the same rink on Saturday including Southern Tier at West Michigan; Nashville at Evansville and Wisconsin at New Ulm, while home and away sets will be satisfied with Breezy Point at Granite City, North Iowa at Rochester and Alexandria at Willmar.

The Wooster Oilers will move on to the Alpha Ice Complex to face the Pittsburgh Vengeance while Toledo Cherokee travels to Detroit to play the Metro Jets at Fraser Hockeyland. St. Louis Jr. Blues will travel to the Owens Center to play the Peoria Mustangs.