Whalers, Thunder grab big NA3HL wins.

There were nine games involving Midwest-based teams in NA3HL League play Saturday (Sept. 19), including some big wins for both the Wisconsin Whalers and Cincinnati Thunder.

The Whalers bounced back from a tough 6-2 loss on home ice the previous night against new division rival, the North Iowa Bulls with a 2-1 edge in overtime while the previously winless grabbed a 3-1 win on home ice against the previously undefeated Toledo Cherokee.

In other games involving Midwest teams: The Metro Jets edged the West Michigan Wolves 2-1; St. Louis Jr. Blues doubled the Peoria Mustangs 4-2 on the road; La Crosse Freeze got by the Chicago Bulldogs 5-3; Twin City Steel made it a weekend sweep with a 7-2 win at Rochester against the host Ice Hawks; Minnesota Flying Aces went to a shootout to get by the host Breezy Point North Stars 4-3; Point Mallard swept the Evansville Thunderbolts with an 8-2 win and Granite City Lumberjacks remain undefeated with a 4-1 win against the visiting Alexandria Blizzard.

Bulls 1 at Whalers 2 (ot)

Both teams remained scoreless in this one all of the way into the third period. Eric Piatt, 18, from Fargo, ND hit the net first, putting the Bulls up 1-0 4:32 into the final frame at Oregon Ice but Brandon Rozema, 18, from Grandville, MI responded for the host Whalers just 2:13 later and teams were still knotted at the end of regulation time.

Peter Henderson, 20, from Libertyville, IL sank the game winner 2:05 into the extra period and Nathan Viberg, 19, from Orland Park, IL assisted on both Whalers goals.

Evan Moyse, 19, from Olmstead Township, OH turned aside all but one of the 25 Bulls shots in the to pick up the win in goal and Tommi Ahlgren, 20, from Finland stopped 38 of 40 in goal for the Bulls.

The Whalers will stay on home ice to play Peoria next Friday (Sept.25) and the Bulls will travel to Chicago on the same day.

Cherokee 1 at Thunder 3 

Tyler Zalecki, 20, from Northwood, OH put the Cherokee on the board with his goal late in the first period, but that was the only goal allowed by Thunder goaltender, Daniel Dolliver, 19, from Viriginia, on this night at the Cincinnati Gardens.

Albert Janele, 18, from Czech Republic replied for the Thunder halfway through the second period and teams were even at 1-1 heading to the third.

Jacob Friedman, 17, from Dayton, OH put the Thunder in front to stay 7:58 into the final period and an empty netter by Marc Anderson, 20, from Canton, OH clinched the win with 71 seconds to play. Grant Kiepper, 18, from Novi, MI assisted on both of the third period goals.

Dolliver turned aside 15 of 16 to grab his first win of the season and Jeremy Hamerquist, 18, from Colorado handled 16 of 18 in goal for the Cherokee.

The Cherokee and Thunder will play one more time on Sunday (Sept 20) to wrap up the weekend series in Cincy.

Wolves 1 at Jets 2 (so)

A battle of Michigan-based clubs stayed scoreless through 51:06 at Fraser Hockeyland before Kevin Shand, 20, from Saline, MI  put the host Jets on the board but Brendon Block, 18, from Carmel, IN knotted things up for the Wolves with his goal just 3:25 from the final buzzer.

Trevor Kalinowski, 19, from Commerce, Twp., MI stopped 35 of 36 for the Jets and Samuel Woznicki, 18, from Walled Lake, MI matched him with 34 saves in goal for the Wolves, taking the game to a shootout.

The Jets elected to shoot last in the shootout and Matt Dempsey, 19, from New Baltimore MI scored to end the first round. Kalinowski stopped all three shots he faced so the Jets nailed down the win without needing a third shot.

Next action for the Wolves will be on home ice against the Toledo Cherokee on Friday (Sept.25) and the Jets will once again host the Wolves the following day.

Jr. Blues 4 at Mustangs 2

Blues and Mustangs played through a scoreless opening period and the host Mustangs carried a 2-1 cushion into the final period at the Owens Recreation Center.

The Blues tied the game and grabbed a lead it wouldn’t surrender with two goals in 27 seconds, just past the halfway mark of the third period and then added one more with 1:49 to play to clinch the road win.

Frankie Melton, 18, from St. Louis and Zach Mitchell, 18, from Chicago both collected a goal and assist in the win and Alex Klaesner, 20, from St. Charles, MO assisted on a pair.

Sam Maddox, 18, from St. Louis and Frankie Cardinale, 16, from St. Louis fired the other Blues goals while Zach Young, 18, from Robertsville made 33 saves to pick up the win in goal.

Chance Homerin, 19, from Pekin, IL scored both Mustang goals and Nic Piech, 19, from Des Plaines, IL stopped 30 of 34 in goal for the Mustangs.

The Jr. Blues are scheduled to stay in Peoria and wrap up a two game weekend set on Sunday (Sept. 20)

Bulldogs 3 at Freeze 5

The Freeze jumped into league play in a big way, scoring four unanswered first period goals and the Green Island Ice Arena, but the Bulldogs rallied back with three unanswered markers of its own in the middle frame to make things interesting.

Ben Henderson, 19, from North Branch, MN notched his second of the game for the Freeze to lock down the win just 2:23 from the final buzzer.

Taylor Trapp, 19, from West Salem, WI picked up a goal and assist in the game and other La Crosse goals came from JP Eykyn, 18, from Waseca, MN and Jacob St. Andre, 19, from Riverview, MI. Andrew Wagner, 19, from East Lansing, MI made 36 stops to secure the win in goal for the Freeze.

Timothy Hoffenkamp, 19, from Bridgeview, IL picked up a goal and assist for the Bulldogs and Michael Howard, 20, from New Lenox, IL set up a pair with other Bulldogs goals coming from Scott Coash Jr., 18, from Plainfield, IL and Stefan Vlad, 18, from Skokie, IL. Dalton Baker and Jimmy Smith, both 19, from Texas combined to stop 39 of 44 shots in goal for the Bulldogs.

The same two teams are scheduled to go at it again on Sunday (Sept. 20) wrapping up the weekend series.

Steel 7 at Ice Hawks 2 

The Steel wrapped up a home and away sweep of the Ice Hawks with a 7-2 win at Graham Arena in Rochester.

The Ice Hawks scored the game’s first two goals, but clung to a 2-1 lead after a period and teams were even at 2-2 with a period to go. The Steel exploded for five third period goals, four of the them in the first 7:05 to tilt things heavily in its favor.

James Hale, 18, from Grand Island, NE paced the Steel attack with two goals and an assist in the game while Jay Paul, 20, from Minnetonka, MN and Fritz Belisle, 17, from Red Wing, MN both collected a goal and a helper. Luc Kreuser, 18, from Wisconsin Rapids, WI and Joe Costello, 19, from Rochester, MI both assisted on a pair and other Steel goals came from: Max Meyer, 18, from Minnetonka, MN; Jared Erickson, 19, from Waupaca, WI and Bennett Witta, 18, from Minnetonka, MN.

Jon Albers, 18, from Centennial, MN made 19 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Steel.

Dan Trageser, 20, from Pennsvylvania and Jiri Trubacik, 19, from Chesterfield, MO scored the Ice Hawks goals while Sam Nelson, 20, from Eau Claire, WI and Sam Mains, 19, from Savage, MN combined to turn aside 46 of 53 in goal.

The Ice Hawks will travel to Breezy Point on Friday (Sept. 25) and the Steel hosts the Granite City Lumberjacks on the same night.

Flying Aces 4 at North Stars 3 (so)

A pair of West Division teams looking for their first points of the NA3HL season went through six rounds of a shootout before the visitors finally claimed a narrow edge.

The host North Stars allowed the Aces the first goal  before the two minute mark of the opening period, but stormed back to claim a 3-1 first period lead. The Aces rallied back with two unanswered middle period markers and teams were scoreless through both the third period and five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime.

None of the game’s goal scorers were able to match their efforts in the shootout.

Jacob Aberwald, 18, from Champlin, MN took the first shot for the Aces and scored, but Tyler Larwood, 19, from New York scored in the third round for the North Stars to keep it going. Kyle Wendorf, 18, from Richfield, MN added one more for the Aces in the sixth round and this time the Stars could not respond.

Jace Cseter, 20, from Menomonie, WI was in on all three of the regulation goals for the Aces, scoring one and setting up Alec Skar, 18, from Forest Lake, MN for the other two. Dakota McDonald, 19, from Rose Hill, KS stopped 44 of 47 shots in goal for the Aces.

Josh Laven, 18, from Hopkins MN scored twice for the North Stars and Dennis Cory, 18, from Madison, WI had two assists. The other goal came from Sean Viti, 19, from Chicago, IL and Wes Paupore, 19, from Kingsford, MI stopped 29 of 32 shots in goal for the Stars.

Next up for the North Stars is a home game against the Rochester Ice Hawks on Friday (Sept. 25) while the Flying Aces will host the Granite City Lumberjacks the following day.

Ducks 8 at Thunderbolts 2 

After staying with the Ducks the previous day, the expansion Evansville Thunderbolts found itself buried in the first period at Swonder Ice Arena in the getaway game and never recovered.

The Ducks piled up a 4-0 first period lead and added another in the middle period. Three more in the third had this one settled before the host Thunderbolts finally responded with two in the final nine minutes of the contest.

Justin Dunn, 19, from Trenton, MI led the way offensively for the Ducks with two goals and two assists while Jake Cox, 18, from Georgia; Stephen Coulter, 19, from Farmington Hills, MI and Scott Jacobson, 19, from North Carolina both added a goal and two assists. Josh Hamilton, 19, from North Carolina also set up a pair and Gabor Belenyesi, 20, from Hungary collected a goal and an assist. Cameron Hamblet, 19, from Alabama and Justin Clark, 20 from North Carolina scored the other Ducks goals.

Joey Sorenson, 18, from Cincinnati, OH and Brandon Bornkamp, 18, from Fort Wayne, IN scored for the Thunderbolts and Adam Conkling, 18, from Fort Wayne, IN took the loss despite a 54 save effort.

The Thunderbolts will stay at home to host the Cincinnati Thunder on Friday (Sept. 25).

Blizzard 1 at Lumberjacks 4

The Granite City Lumberjacks remain undefeated following a 4-1 win at the Armadillo Deck Arena. Single goals in the first and final periods along with a 2-1 edge in the middle frame helped the home team wrap up the win.

Trevor Cornelious scored two for the Lumberjacks Logan Neu picked up two asssits. Both are 18 from St. Cloud, MN. Tommy Giller, 19, from White Bear Lake, MN and Lucas Carroll, 18, from St. Francis, MN had the other Lumberjack goals and Robbie Goor, 19, from Anoka, MN made 12 saves to pick up the win in goal.

Mason Hautala, 18, from Osseo, MN scored the lone Alexandria goal and Evan Bisek, 20, from New Prague, MN turned aside 31 of 35 in goal for the Blizzard.

Lumberjacks will hit the road to play the Twin City Steel on Friday (Sept. 25) and the Blizzard will visit La Crosse Freeze on the same day.