Rutherford nails shutout in Riverkings Showcase opener

Parker Rutherford, 19, from Fort Wayne, IN faced only seven shots, but stopped all of them helping his Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings open the United States Premier Hockey League (Premier) to a 2-0 shutout win against the Kalkaska Rhinos in its opening game of the league’s Chicago Showcase tournament on Thursday (Oct. 12) at the Leaf Center Arena in West Dundee, IL.

The game was one of six involving Midwest teams and the only all-Midwest battle of the day as the Riverkings entered as Midwest-West Division leaders and the Rhinos are regulars in the Midwest-East Division.

In other Showcase matches involving Midwest teams: the Hudson Havoc got by the Potomac Patriots 2-1 while the Chicago Cougars were edged by the Islanders Hockey Club 2-1. Decatur Blaze opened its season with a 6-2 loss against the Atlanta Knights 6-2 and the Dells Ducks were edged by the Jersey Hitmen 5-3.

Riverkings 2 Rhinos 0

A powerplay goal by Jacob Gaydos, 19, from Sandusky, OH scored near the halfway mark of the opening 25-minute ‘half’ stood up as the game winner and Ryan Mantz, 20, from Oshkosh, WI, leading scorer in the Midwest league last season collected the other Riverkings goal.

Devin Allen, 19, from Alberta turned aside all but two of the 27 shots he faced in goal for the Rhinos who will continue at the Showcase with a game against the Ironwood Fighting Yoopers on Friday (Oct. 13), the Charlotte Rush on Saturday and then wrap up on Sunday against the Minnesota Moose. The Rhinos moved to 2-2-0-0 on the season with the loss.

The Riverkings meanwhile remain undefeated at 7-0-0-0 and will face some tough competition, taking on the Islanders on Friday, defending league champion Charlotte Rush on Saturday and then wrapping up Sunday against the Motor City Hawks on Sunday.

Havoc 2 Patriots 1

Hudson snapped a four-game losing streak thanks in part to a 32-save effort from Lane Gregory, 19, from Colorado and a game winner scored with just over five minutes to go by Case Moioffer, a 19-year-old defenseman from Somerset, WI to down the Potomac Patriots of the Southeast Division 2-1 at the Leaf Center

Rafferty Chaney, 17, from Crete, IL put the Havoc on the board with the lone goal of the first half and Feliks Molotov, 17, from Ukraine notched the lone Potomac goal early in the second half.

Patriots’ goaltender Kristofer Muhr, 17, from Colorado stopped 24 shots in goal for the Patriots.

The win came at a good time for the Havoc who opened the season with a win against the Ironwood Fighting Yoopers but then dropped its next four. Now at 2-4-0-0, the Havoc will move on to play the Tri-City Ice Hawks on Friday, the Florida Jr. Blades on Saturday and then wraps up against the Chicago Cougars on Sunday.

Islanders HC 2 Cougars 1

The Chicago Cougars opened its hometown tournament with a tough match and saw a six-game season opening winning streak come to an end with a tough loss to the Islanders from the league’s North Division.

Cougars scored the lone goal of the first period as Michael Helf, 20, from Chicago found the mesh just 1:56 from the end of the first half.

Ryan Gorbett, 20, from Cleveland Heights, OH pulled the Islanders even early in the second and the game winner came from Brandon Nale, 19, from Maine with 7:36 to play.

Eric Morrissey, 18, from Massachusetts picked up the win in goal with 23 saves for the Islanders and Alex Jones, 20, from Verona stopped 24 shots in goal for the Cougars who fell to 6-1-0-0 with the loss.

The Cougars will continue at the Showcase event, facing off against the Steele County Blades on Friday, the Potomac Patriots on Saturday and then the Hudson Havoc in its finale on Sunday.

Knights 6 Blaze 2

The Decatur crew was playing its first game of the regular season when it faced off at the Canlan Ice Rink in Romeoville, IL Thursday.

The Knights grabbed control of the game just 44 seconds in with its first of five straight first half goals.

Scott Wargin, 19, from Worth, IL finally got the Blaze on the board 19 seconds from the end of the opening half and he also added the second goal for Decatur with just under five minutes to play in the contest.

Zac McKenna, 20, from Powell, OH scored twice for the Knights with others added by: Dominik Knap, 19, from Czech Republic; John Testino, 20, from Georgia; Adam Husley, 19, from California and Andrew King, 20, from Georgia.

Dominik Vollenweider, 18, from Switzerland stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Knights while Adam Lindeman, 20, from Beaver Dam, WI stopped 34 shots for the Blaze.

Decatur is scheduled to play the Islanders on Friday and faces the Wisconsin Muskies Saturday before wrapping up on Sunday against the Minnesota Blue Ox.

Hitmen 5 Ducks 3

The Ducks entered the tournament coming off its first win of the season (1-3-1-0) but couldn’t convert that into a winning streak as the Hitmen scored twice in the final two minutes of the opening half to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 halftime lead and outscored the Dells crew 2-1 in the second half as well at the Canlan Ice Rink.

Stone Stelzl, 18, from Blaine, MN scored twice for the Ducks with Spencer Butler, 17, from Florida adding the other.

Trevor Veneklase, 19, from Tennessee scored a pair for the Hitmen with singles added by Colton Craigo, 18, from Monroe, WI; Alec Rovitz, 18, from New York and Lukas Kucera, 17, from Czech Republic.

Kenton Kim, 18 from New York and Trevor Osborne, 19 from O’Fallon, IL combined to make 23 saves in goal for the Hitmen while Zander Zafiro, 20, from Williams Bay, WI turned aside 25 in goal for the Ducks.

The Ducks will continue at the Chicago event with games against the Atlanta Knights on Friday, Florida Eels on Saturday and finally the Detroit Fighting Irish on Sunday.