Van Bokkelen scores three to lead Riverkings rally.

The Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings kept a stanglehold atop the United States Premier Hockey League Midwest Elite Division standings, charging back from an early 2-0 deficit for a 6-2 win on Friday (Oct. 28) at South Wood County Recreational Center.

In other league games on the same night, the Forest Lake Lakers collected a 9-2 win against the visiting Blaine Energy at the Forest Lake Sports Center and the River Falls Renegades collected a 6-4 home win at the Wildcat Center against the Chicago Cougars.

Blades 2 at RiverKings 6

Oskari Valli, 18, from Finland put the visitors on the board first and Soren Colstrup, 20, from Ellendale, MN doubled the margin with his goal just 3:46 later.

Erik Schuette took over from there for the host Riverkings though, making 27 saves, including all of the 21 he faced in the final 40 minutes while Kevin VanBokkelen, 19, from Olathe, KS fired three goals to lead the home team back in a big way.

The first goal came at the 11:47 mark of the game, getting the home team on the board and Reed Kaiser, 20, from Wyoming, finished the comeback exactly 30 seconds later.

Teams were even at 2-2 heading to the final 20 minutes and the RiverKings moved in front with VanBokkelen’s second at the 7:31 mark of the final period. Adam Peterson, 18, from Chicago, IL added another 51 seconds later. A little over a minute later Tyler Albitz, 20, from Akron, OH added insurance and VanBokkelen rounded out the scoring with 9:55 to play.

Tim Grounds, 20, from White Bear Lake, MN made 33 saves in goal for the Blades.

Energy 2 at Lakers 9

Two goals each for four different shooters paced the Lakers who opened up a 3-0 first period cushion and carried a 5-0 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Tom Strelow, 19, from Mahtomedi, MN and Cooper Hoheisel, 17, from Chisago City, MN,  both scored two goals and added two assists in the game while Jared Fladebo, 19, from Mahtomedi, MN and Jack Scott from Minneapolis, MN both added two goals as well.

Paul Daley, from California scored the other goal and added an assist while Josh Greune, 18, from North Carolina made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal.

Andrew Pitleck, 18, from Coon Rapids, MN got the Energy on the board with 6:57 to play and Dalton Jahntz, 20, scored the other 16 seconds from the final buzzer.

Cougars 4 at Renegades 6

Three unanswered second period goals turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead for the host Renegades but the Cougars rallied back with two goals in 26 seconds early in the third.

Sam Krawczyk, 19, from Mahtomedi, MN fired the game winner for the Renegades with 4:41 to play and added an insurance goal as well into an empty Chicago goal exactly four minutes later.

Kyle Kester, 17, from Waconia, MN; Kyle McKinzie, 20, from Saginaw, MN; Harrison Bjorgo, 19, from Crookston, MN and Jack Hansen, 18, from Prior Lake, MN had the other Renegades goals and Holton Stricklen, 19, from Mound, MN stopped 35 shots to pick up the win in goal.

Anthony Beltrame, 18, from Melrose Park, IL; Mike Lenzi, 18, from Vernon Hills, IL; Adam Ryffel, 19, from St. Louis, MO and Virgil DelBrassine, 20, from Belgium scored the Cougar goals and Alex Jones, 19, from Madison, WI made 26 saves in goal for the Cougars.