Wildcats first to Qualify for NAHL semis

The final eight teams began play in four North American Hockey League (NAHL) Division Championship series this past weekend — four of them from the American Midwest.

That number was reduced to three on Monday night as the Topeka Roadrunners fell 2-1 in double overtime to the Wichita Falls Wildcats on home ice and succumbing in three straight in its NAHL South Division Championship series.

In the Central Division Championship series, the host Bismarck Bobcats grabbed control against the Austin Bruins with a 5-1 win Friday (April 29) and a 4-1 edge the following night while host Fairbanks Ice Dogs collected a 2-1 win in its opener against defending Robertson Cup champion Minnesota Wilderness and put a stranglehold on the series with a 3-2 edge in overtime the following night.

South Division

April 29 — Roadrunners 1 at Wildcats 3 

All four series started on Friday night, the host Wichita Falls Wildcats scoring twice in 2:11 late in the third period to break open a 1-1 draw and pull out a win in the opening game at Kay Yeager Arena.

Jonathan Lazarus, 20, from New York and Erich Jaeger, (Air Force), 20, from Idaho had those late goals and the others came in the first period as Andrew Hart, 20, from Pennsylvania put the Roadrunners in front at the 13:05 mark only to have Austin Albrecht, 19, from New Jersey respond for the home team just 24 seconds later.

Justin Kapelmaster, (Ferris State) 20, from Florida stopped all but one of the 37 shots he faced to nail down the win in goal for the Wildcats; Juho Niku, 20, from Finland handling 33 of 36 for the Roadrunners.

April 30 — Roadrunners 4 at Wildcats 5

The following night was a little more wide open as the Roadrunners and Wildcats played even through the first — both firing one goal before the Roadrunners opened up a 3-2 cushion in the second, setting the stage for a wild final 20 minutes.

The Roadrunners actually padded its lead to 4-1 as Sami Tavernier, (Merrimack), 19, from France scored 91 seconds into the final period, adding to others by Jack Nickels, 19, from Carol Stream, IL; JB Baker, 20, from Maryland and Tyler Hayes, (Niagara) 20, from Brighton, MI. Aleksi Poikola, 19, from Finland and Austin Beaulieu, (Alabama-Huntsville) 19, from Florida responded with the Wildcat goals to that point

Adam Goodsir, (Denver), 17, from Okemos, MI pulled the Wildcats to within a pair with his goal 4:42 into the third and Albrecht tied the game up just over three minutes later, setting the stage for the game winner fired by Poikola with 3:46 to play.

Kapelmaster picked up another win with 30 saves in the game and Niku stopped 27.

May 2 — Wildcats 2 at Roadrunners 1 (2ot)

Andre Pison, 20, from Denmark brought a sudden finish to a long game at Topeka’s Kansas Expo center Monday night, his shot, the 39th of the game for the Wildcats and just the second to get past Tyler Johnson, (Maine), 18, from New York just 5:45 from the end of a second overtime period.

Both teams scored once in the first period, Marshall Bowery, 19, from Rochester Hills, MI counting the first goal for the host Roadrunners in the sixth minute of the contest and Beaulieu tying it up for the Wildcats about seven minutes later.

After that, Johnson and Kapelmaster took over keeping the disc on the right side of the goal line for 81:22 before Pison ended the series.

Midwest Division

April 29 — Wilderness 1 at Ice Dogs 2 (ot)

If this was a boxing or wrestling match, the hype would have been automatic as the Fairbanks Ice Dogs, regular season champions with a record breaking points total (101) began its series against the defending Robertson Cup champion Minnesota Wilderness at the Big Dipper Ice Arena Friday (April 29).

Defense looks to be key in this one — at least in the opener as the Ice Dogs held an edge in shots 33-20 overall, but hit a double digit shot total in only one of three periods.

Mitchell Baumann, 20, from Cedarburg, WI was the first hero of the series as his overtime shot 6:08 into the overtime gave the host Ice Dogs a 1-0 lead in the Best-of-Five series. The other Fairbanks goal came from Todd Burgess, (RPI) 20, from Arizona just past the halfway mark of the opening period and Gavin Nieto, (Brown) 20, from California turned aside 19 of 20 shots he faced to pick up the win in goal for the home side.

The lone Wilderness goal came from Koby Bender, (Minnesota-Duluth), 18, from Cloquet, MN 7:46 into the second period and Luke Kania, 20, from Chicago, IL handled 31 of 33 in goal for the Wilderness.

April 30 — Wilderness 2 at Fairbanks 3 (ot)

Teams were even after each period as the Wilderness battled back from single goal deficits before the end of both the second and third periods and both were held off the board in the opening frame.

Reggie Lutz, 19, from Elk River, MN lifted the Ice Dogs to a second straight overtime win in the third minute of the extra session, giving his team three chances to win one on the road and capture the Division.

Adam Anderson, 20, from Lino Lakes, MN opened the scoring for the Ice Dogs with just 2:50 to go in the second period, but after 37 plus minutes of scoreless hockey, the second one game just 22 seconds later as Casey Gilling, (Northern Michigan), 18, from Gaylord Michigan nailed the equalizer for the Wilderness.

Jakob Stridsberg, (Arizona State) 20, from Sweden but the Ice Dogs in front again with 5:19 to go in the contest, but again the lead was short-lived as Isak Bergland, 20, from Thief River Falls, MN responded for the Wilderness. That set the stage for Lutz to fire the overtime winner.

Nieto and Kania both got a recall between the pipes and both faced 34 shots in this one.

Game three will be played Friday (May 6) at the Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet, MN with a 7:30 p.m. (CST) puck drop. If needed teams will go at it again the following night, also at 7:30 p.m. and a fifth game would be played Sunday (May 8) at 5 p.m.

Central Division

April 29 — Bruins 1 at Bobcats 5

The host Bismarck Bobcats opened the Central Division with a three goal first period explosion on its way to a 5-1 win at the Bismarck VFW Sports Center against the Austin Bruins.

Solag Bakich, 18, from Texas opened the scoring just 44 seconds into this one while Alex Strand, 20, from Roseau, MN and Parker Mismash, 19, from Edina, MN added others later in the period.

Aaron Herdt, 20, from Moorhead, MN padded the lead with the lone goal of the middle period for the Bobcats and Strand fired another 5:31 to put the home team into a comfort zone.

The Bruins gained some consolation, spoiling the shutout bid of Hunter Shepard, (Minnesota-Duluth) 20, from Cohasset, MN as Jacob Paganelli, (Princeton) 19, from New Jersey buried the lone goal for his team at the 7:31 mark.

Kristofer Carlson, 18, from Virginia got the call for the Bruins in goal and made 13 saves before being pulled after the fifth goal in favor of Robbie Goor, 19, from Anoka, MN. Goor faced only three shots and stopped each of them.

April 30 — Bruins 1 at Bobcats 4

Single, unanswered goals in the first and final periods along with a 2-1 edge in the middle lifted the Bobcats to a second win and a commanding lead in the Best-of-Five Division championship series the following night.

Shepard stopped another 25 shots for his second win in goal in 24 hours while Carlson handled 26 of 30 in the other goal.

Tobias Fladeby, 19, from Norway scored the first goal late in the opening period and Travis Wood, 20, from Hudson, WI added another 1:54 into the middle frame before Travis Kothenbeutel, 19, from Sauk Rapids, MN struck back for the Bruins with 6:02 to play in the period.

Jared Pike, (AIC) 20, from Utah drained a back breaker for the Bobcats just two seconds from the second period buzzer and Willie Brown, 20, from St. Paul, MN added some insurance with his third period goal.

This series will resume at Riverside Arena in Austin Friday (May 6) night with a 7:05 p.m. faceoff. If needed, a fourth game will be played the following night also at 7:05 p.m. and a fifth game would go back in Bismarck on Monday (May 9) at 7:15 p.m.

The Eastern Division Championship series is also two games in — Aston Rebels with a 2-0 lead in games after a 5-2 win Friday (May 6) and a 4-3 edge in overtime the following night against the Johnstown Tomahawks. Games three and four are scheduled for Johnstown this weekend and a fifth game, if needed, will go back in Aston Sunday, May 8.

The four division winners will move on to play in the Robertson Cup semi-finals — Best of Three meetings to be played May 12-14 and a single game Championship will go on May 15 — all in Edina, MN.