WSHL WEEKEND WRAP-UP; January 17-20, 2019

West Sound Admirals @ Seattle Totems

The Seattle Totems do not look like they will allow themselves to be chased down from behind in the second half of the Northwest Division race, handily defeating West Sound in a split two-game set.

Seattle 6, West Sound 2 – Six different skaters scored for the Seattle Totems, who built a 5-0 lead in the second period, then held on for a 6-2 win over the West Sound Admirals on Thursday.

Totems goalie Wyatt Monear stopped 18 of 19 shots through the first two periods, finishing the game with 28 saves as the visiting Ads out-shot their hosts, 30-29.

Noah Bird made 23 saves for West Sound, who’s goals came from Cory Kane and Alec Johnson.

Seattle 9, West Sound 4 – The Admirals returned to Olympicview Arena on Saturday to face the Totems, who had lost to the division-leading Bellingham Blazers on Friday.  If Seattle was fatigued by the extra game, West Sound was not able to capitalize on it.  The Totems scored seven times over the last two periods for a 9-4 win. 

Braden Sanchez and Temirlan Skindirov each had two goals and three assists in the game to spearhead the Totems offense.

San Diego Sabers @ Valencia Flyers

San Diego 7, Valencia 5 – Tristan Warr’s 22nd goal of the season 7:48 into the third period tied the game, but Jere Jaakkola responded with the game-winner for the San Diego Sabers as they defeated the Flyers in Valencia, 7-5, on Thursday night.

With the Flyers on a power play, Mack Willy (31 saves) made a big stop on a shorthanded attempt by Josef Kankovsky and the Flyers turned the puck back up ice.  Danylo Moroz cut through the San Diego defense and managed to get a backhander on net that Marshall McKallip (40 saves) stopped, but the rebound went right to Warr who deposited the puck into a wide-open cage.

Moroz collected his fourth assist of the game on the play.

But just :43 later, Jaakkola restored San Diego’s lead on a similar play.  A two-on-two rush by the Sabers was broken up by the Valencia defense, but Riley Cryan picked up the loose puck and slid a backhander at Willy.  He made the initial save, but Jaakkola was crashing the net and cashed in on the rebound.

The Flyers pulled Willy for the extra attacker, but Karel Kankovsky’s second goal of the game went into an empty net with :12 left on the clock.

Jakub Vesely and Noah McNutt also lit the lamp twice for San Diego.  Dominik Knap had a pair for Valencia.

(Photo by Manny B.) 

Long Beach Bombers @ Fresno Monsters

Fresno 4, Long Beach 3 – Thursday’s game at Selland Arena in Fresno between the top two teams in the Western Division was tied 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 and could not be decided in overtime.  Fresno’s Tyler Matthews made 59 saves as the Monsters knocked off the first-place Long Beach Bombers, 4-3, in a shootout.

Diego Gluck’s second goal of the game came mid-way through the third period and gave the Bombers a 3-2 lead but the Monsters came up with the tying goal for the third time in the game.

After a period of sustained pressure by the Monsters, the Bombers managed to clear the zone and Gluck skated down on a Fresno defender one-on-one.  He made a slick individual move, gently putting the puck around the left side of the checker, slipping around him to the right, then picking the puck up and beating Mathews with a quick move to his backhand.

Fresno’s Jarred Hicks dropped the gloves with Will Daigneault on the ensuing faceoff in an effort to spark the team and it worked.  Just :38 after Gluck’s go-ahead tally, Petr Philippov knotted the game again.

Logan Domagala skated the puck out of the Fresno end, all the way through the neutral zone and into the Long Beach end at the left boards.  He managed to get the puck to Stanislav Danaev who hed onto it as Philippov skated into a good spot, then hit him with a backhand pass.  Philippov buried a 25-foot wrist shot to tie the game for the third time.

Long Beach out-shot Fresno, 4-3, in the scoreless overtime period despite the Monsters having a power play.  The game then proceeded to a shootout.

Mathews and Domenic Bosetti of the Bombers combined to deny the first 14 shooters.

But, in the eighth round, Martin Dlugolinsky scored for Fresno.

With the Bombers needed a goal to extend the shootout, Gennady Malashenko made the best move yet, a quick backhand-forehand deke, but Mathews stretched out his right pad to make the save and secure a huge point in the standings for the Monsters.

Bosetti made 26 saves in the game for Long Beach.

Bellingham Blazers vs. Seattle Totems (home-and-home)

The top two teams in the Northwest Division split a home-and-home set with each team winning in the other’s barn.  It was part of a stretch of four games in four days for the Totems, who claimed nine of 12 points and moved to within 17 points of the first-place Blazers.

Bellingham 5, Seattle 2 – The Seattle Totems scored early in the third period to pull within a goal, but the Bellingham Blazers responded with a pair of goals later in the frame for a 5-2 win in Seattle on Friday.

Gabriel Sbop scored at the 3:54 mark of the third period to cut Bellingham’s lead to one goal at 3-2.  With the Totems setting up their breakout on the power play, Sbop swooped behind the Seattle net with speed, picked up the puck and made an electric end-to-end rush, evading all four Bellingham defenders inside the Blazers blue line and beating Bellingham netminder Edward Coffey with a shot low to the stick side.

Sbop’s tally gave the Totems some life, but the Blazers were able to come up with a big play when they needed it.

With Bellingham again playing short a man, and protecting a one-goal lead, Robbie Eichelberger dug a puck out of a scrum along the wall in the Bellingham end, charged up ice with the puck, then dished it over to Thomas Steven for a tap-in to restore the two-goal lead for the Blazers.

Eichelberger had a goal and two assists in the game.

Timothy Prexler added an insurance goal with 3:34 to go in the game to but a bow on the “W” for Bellingham.

Coffey made 24 saves and picked up the win, stopping 15 of 16 shots over the final 40 minutes.

Ruslan Kulizade made 25 saves for Seattle.

Seattle 1, Bellingham 0 – In Bellingham on Sunday, the two teams battled hard in a playoff-type game that saw Seattle’s Alec Johnson provide the only goal in a 1-0 Totems road win.

The contest was a goaltending duel between Seattle’s Kulizade and Kolter Pawlick of Bellingham which Kulizade won by stopping all 36 shots sent his way.  Pawlick was the tough-luck loser, stopping 38 of 39 shots.

Kulizade and Pawlick denied everything for the first 48:04 of the game until Johnson finally made sure the red lights were working at Bellingham Sportsplex.  Gabriel Sbop was first on a loose puck and cycled it down the left wall and behind the Bellingham net where Cameron Waisman retrieved it.  He quickly backhanded a pass into the slot Johnson was waiting between the circles for a quick one-timer that proved to be the game-winner as the only goal of the game.

El Paso Rhinos @ Wichita Jr. Thunder

It was business as usual for the Mid-Western Division leaders from El Paso.  The Rhinos swept nine points from the Jr. Thunder in Wichita, opening up an eight-point cushion at the top of the division.

El Paso 10, Wichita 3 – The El Paso Rhinos lit the lamp five times in the second period Friday night to open up a six-goal lead and cruise to a 10-3 win over the Jr. Thunder in Wichita.

Dillon Manchester and Max Kamper each scored a pair of goals for the Rhinos.

Thomas Srsha scored twice in the third period for Wichita.

Wichita’s Bronson Sudberry made 35 saves through the first two periods before giving way to Robert Allen, who stopped 22 of 24 shots in the third.

El Paso 11, Wichita 1 – Nine different Rhinos skaters lit the lamp in an 11-1 El Paso win on Saturday.

Filip Schultz and Max Kamper each had two goals and an assist for the Rhinos.  Adam Stalzer (1-2-3) also had three points as the Rhinos spread the scoring around.

Robert Allen went the distance in the Wichita net, making 61 saves, and Braeden Thomas scored the Jr. Thunder goal late in the second period.

El Paso 10, Wichita 1 – Jonas Burman led the way with a hat trick as the Rhinos hit double-digits against on Sunday, scoring four times in the first period and winning, 10-1.

Donald Alchin had a six-point game for El Paso, scoring a goal and dishing out five assists.  Fellow blue-liner Justin Cole-Dubecky put up 1-4-5.

Marcus Ohlsson-Ornelius scored the lone Wichita goal in the second period.

Dallas Snipers @ Oklahoma City Blazers

The Oklahoma City Blazers won two of three games against the visiting Dallas Snipers, but Saturday’s win was huge for Dallas, tying them with the idle Northern Colorado Eagles for third place in the Mid-Western Division.  The team that scored first lost all three games in the series.

Oklahoma City 7, Dallas 3 – Henrik Overall (2-3-5), Vitalii Mikhailov (2-3-5) and Stephane Doering (1-4-5) accounted for five points each to lead the Oklahoma City Blazers to a 7-3 win over Dallas Friday.

Karten Portell scored for Dallas just a minute into the contest, but the Blazers took the lead by the end of the first period and built on it in the second.  Overvall, Mikhailov and Doering all figured in the first three OKC goals.

Snipers’ goalie Alexander Aleshkin made 34 of his 44 saves in the first two periods to keep the score close, but the Blazers eventually pulled away.

Todd Thompson and Eric Eaton also scored for Dallas.

Dallas 7, Oklahoma City 4 – Jasa Jenko scored four goals to spark Dallas to a 7-4 win on Saturday.  The Snipers scored three unanswered goals in the second period and Kyle Plantz made 19 of his 40 saves in the third as Dallas withstood the Blazers’ comeback attempt.

In the middle of the second period, the Snipers lit the lamp three times in a span of 4:30 to open up a 4-1 lead.

Shortly after OKC killed off a Dallas power play, Hunter Best chipped the puck up the right wall out of the Dallas end to Michael Fatta in the neutral zone and he stormed down the right wing, then fed a return pass to Best who deposited the puck past Oklahoma City starting goaltender Bobby Cloutier to give the Snipers their first lead of the game at 6:49 of the second period.

A little over two minutes later Jenko scored his second of the night.  The Blazers could not keep a puck in at the line and Jenko and Eaton took off down the ice on a two-on-one, barely staying onside before Eaton fed Jenko, who had snuck behind the defense for a forehand finish.

The Blazers kept the pressure on, but it was Dallas scoring again at the 11:19 mark.  The Snipers were pinned in their own end until Fatta skated it out over the blue line, just eluded a check along the left-wing boards in the neutral zone then carried the puck into the OKC end, holding it until the last instant before delivering a perfect pass to Portell for the finish.

With the Blazers down three goals, Cloutier (14 saves) was lifted for Josh Martinez.  The Blazers continued to carry the play for the rest of the period, not allowing a single shot to reach Martinez for the final 8:41 of the frame.

But, thanks to Plantz, Oklahoma City was unable to score in the period either and Dallas took a three-goal lead into the final frame.

The Blazers scored three times in the third period, but the Snipers also got three past Martinez, including Jenko’s third and fourth goals of the game.

Eric Eaton had three assists for Dallas.

Oklahoma City 7, Dallas 2 – Dallas took a 1-0 lead early in Sunday’s game, but Oklahoma City responded just :26 later to tie, then went on to a 7-2 win.

Seven different Blazers scored and Cloutier responded to getting yanked on Saturday by stopping 21 of 23 shots.

Igor Litvinenko scored 5:05 into the contest with a snipe from the top of the right circle to give Dallas the lead, but Harri Kroll evened the score just 26 seconds later and that sparked the Blazers who led, 4-1, by the first intermission.

Cloutier made a nice pad save to prevent the Snipers from doubling their lead and OKC broke the puck out quickly. Kroll crashed the net on a three-on-two and was able to cash in on the rebound after a nice play by Tobias Thorner to throw the puck on the net.

Kroll had a goal and four assists for OKC while Thorner had 1-3-4.

Valencia Flyers @ Fresno Monsters

Fresno took all six points from Valencia, but the Flyers made them work for it both nights, forcing the Monsters to mount a comeback for both wins.

Fresno 6, Valencia 3 – The Valencia Flyers held a 3-2 lead in the second period, but Fresno rallied for a 6-3 win as six different Monsters scored.

Jakub Kasanicky’s goal at 5:19 of the second period gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead, but the Monsters scored two times in the next 37 seconds to regain the lead.

Kasanicky was behind the Fresno defense on a late change and Dylan San Augustin was able to hit him with a long stretch pass to send him in alone on Fresno goalie Max Karlenzig (19 saves) for the go-ahead goal.

It only took :21 for the Monsters to respond.  Martin Dlugolinsky chipped the puck past a Flyers defenseman along the right wall at the center red line then came across the Valencia blue line with speed before turning across the slot.  He fanned on a shot but it froze the Valencia defense and he was able to continue to a wider angle and wrist the puck home past Flyers goalie Mack Willy (27 saves).

Fresno controlled the puck off the ensuing faceoff and forced a faceoff to the left of Willy. The Monsters won the draw and the puck went back to Logan Domagala at the point.  He wristed a shot on net and Jonathan Holguin, planted in front of Willy, tipped it on the way through.

It remained 4-3 Fresno until the third period where Rory Scott and Stanislav Danaev scored insurance goals for the Monsters.

Danylo Moroz maintained the hot hand for Valencia, scoring twice in the game.

Fresno 5, Valencia 4 – Valencia held the lead in the third period Saturday, with a 4-2 advantage, but the Monsters came back again, tying the game, then winning it in overtime on a Jarred Hicks goal.

There was a faceoff in the Valencia end with 1:33 left in the sudden-death period.  Fresno’s Jeremy Velazquez lost control of the puck high in the zone and had to retreat into the neutral zone, but quickly curled back into the Fresno zone as soon as Hicks cleared the zone.  Velazquez broke down the wing, drawing the lone Flyers defender, then dishing a pass back to the middle of the ice where Hicks had returned and snapped the puck past Valencia netminder Mack Willy (30 saves).

Velazquez assisted on three goals, including the game-winner.

Mathews entered the game in the second period in relief of starter Max Karlenzig (12 saves) and stopped all 13 Flyers shots in the third period to backstop the comeback.

Cheyenne Stampede @ Casper Bobcats

The playoffs have arrived early in the Mountain Division.  The Cheyenne Stampede gave the Bobcats three close games in Casper but the hosts won all three games, including one-goal victories Saturday and Sunday.  The three regulation wins give Casper a 12-point lead over fourth-place Steamboat in the division standings but the Stampede, while sitting in fifth place, continue to show that they can compete with the teams ahead of them in the division.

Casper 5, Cheyenne 0 – Five different players scored for Casper and Henry Deenee posted a 21-save shutout as the Bobcats won, 5-0, on Friday.

The game was scoreless until late in the second period as Cheyenne’s Brendan Carew (58 saves) and Deenee would not cede a goal.

The Bobcats broke through with three goals in the last 2:54 of the period, however, to take a 3-0 lead at the second intermission.  Joel Rothman, Daniel Silar and Steven Olik lit the lamp in rapid succession for Casper.

Casper 3, Cheyenne 2 – Joel Rothman’s third-period goal gave the Bobcats the winning margin in a 3-2 win over the Stampede o Saturday.

With the game tied, 2-2, and Casper on a power play early in the third period, Rothman and the Bobcats were working the puck down low behind the Cheyenne net.  The puck went back to Ryan Radtke at the point and he rifled a hard shot that was denied by Carew, but Rothman was there at the left post to deposit the rebound.

Carew kept the Stampede in the game the whole way, making 60 saves, but the Stampede could not get the tying goal a third time after coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to tie.

Casper’s Ludwig Nordqvist stopped 14 of 16 shots.

Daniel Silar scored the first two goals for Casper while Logan Syrup and Nick Lamme scored for the Stampede.

Casper 3, Cheyenne 2 – Radtke figured in all three Casper goals, setting up the first two, and scoring the game-winning goal late in the second period as the Bobcats won by a score of 3-2 again on Sunday.

With the Bobcats skating 5-on-3, Cheyenne cleared the puck and Radtke collected it in the neutral zone as Casper re-grouped.  He skated it back into the zone himself, charging wide around the Stampede defender down the right side, then cut to the net and played the puck to the front of the net with his backhand.  The puck deflected off a skate in front and dribbled into the net.

Casper out-shot Cheyenne, 16-2, in the third period but Michael Eastman (45 saves) denied them every time.  Eastman was playing just his second game in a Stampede sweater after starting the season with the Seattle Totems.

Ontario Avalanche @ San Diego Sabers

Ontario 4, San Diego 3 – Charles Riordan scored twice in the first period and Will McEwen made 62 saves as the Ontario Avalanche rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to defeat the Sabers in San Diego, 4-3.

McEwen stopped 62 of 65 shots for the Avs, making 21 saves in the third period as Ontario held on for a one-goal win on the road.

A Brett Ruiz goal at the 13:06 mark of the third period gave Ontario their first lead of the game, 3-2.  With the Avalanche on the power play, Davis evaded a forechecker in the Ontario end and moed the puck up to Ruiz, who wound through the neutral zone, then cut to the middle as he crossed the San Diego blue line.  He then sniped a 35-foot shot inside the far post to put the Avs in front.

The Sabers won a draw in their own and, and the defenseman attempted to ring it around the boards behind his own net.  Eric Moran got behind the net quickly to cut off the play and he and Tanner Turcotte contained the Sabers behind their own net until Turcotte could feed the puck through a defender’s feet to Hayden Hoyt, who made a quick move to get the puck on his forehand ad beat McKallip (22 saves). 

Hoyt’s tally held up as the game-winner as San Diego’s Karel Kankovsky scored the only goal of the third period.

Meadow Lake Mustangs @ Hinton Wildcats

Hinton 4, Meadow Lake 1 – Viacheslav Pinin scored twice and Max Gaudet stopped 27 of 28 shots as the Hinton Wildcats defeated the visiting Meadow Lake Mustangs, 4-1, at Murray Rec Center Friday night.

The first period was tightly-contested with the Mustangs out-shooting their hosts, 11-10, and neither team able to score.

Meadow Lake’s Zach Pederson finally broke the ice 1:02 into the second period, but Pinin tied the game up with his first goal of the night about five and a half minutes later.

Jakob Arsenault gave Hinton their first lead of the game with 2:41 left in the second period, but Meadow Lake netminder Scott Danylak (45 saves) had kept the Mustangs into the game until goals from Pinin and Cemeron Hunt :45 apart midway through the third period put the game away for the Wildcats.

Cold Lake Wings @ Edson Aeros

Edson 13, Cold Lake 1 – Emil Johansson scored four goals and Brayden Gyurkovits made 23 saves on 24 shots as the Edson Aeros rolled to a 13-1 win over the Cold Lake Wings on Friday night in Edson.

The Wings used three goaltenders in the game, combining for 67 saves.  Riley Smith scored the Cold Lake goal late in the second period.

Southern Oregon Spartans @ Long Beach Bombers

Long Beach 8, Southern Oregon 2 – Tomas Urbanec scored two goals, set up two others, and Mason Kaprelyan stopped 32 of 34 shots in his first start for Long Beach as the Bombers defeated the Southern Oregon Spartans Friday night, 8-2.

Southern Oregon netminder Kayden Pickles kept the score close early, stopping 18 of 20 shots in the opening frame, but the Bombers opened up a four-goal lead in the second period.  Pickles finished the game with 53 saves.

Michele Vignoli Sanin and Erich Marschall scored for the Spartans.

Cold Lake Wings @ Hinton Wildcats

Hinton 7, Cold Lake 3 – Cold Lake was within a goal heading into the third period on the road at Hinton Saturday, but the Wildcats finished strong and scored three unanswered goals in the final period to pull away with a 7-3 win.

Viacheslav Pinin scored twice for the Wildcats, including a key insurance goal in the third period.

Cold Lake netminder Skyler Hildebrand made 32 of his 38 saves in the first two periods.  He stopped 18 of 19 shots in the first period to keep the Wings in the game.

Riley Keyes had a goal and three assists for Hinton.

Meadow Lake Mustangs @ Edson Aeros

Edson 10, Meadow Lake 7 – Meadow Lake continues to give the Provincial Division-leading Edson Aeros fits.  The Mustangs held a 6-4 lead after two periods, but the Aeros busted out for six goals in the third and won the game, 10-7.

Sebastian Heden (2-5-7) and Coleman Mueller (4-1-5) led the charge as Edson stormed back with three goals in the first 3:26 of the period to take their first lead of the game.

Tobie Opikokew scored twice in his WSHL debut for Meadow Lake.

Utah Outliers @ Ogden Mustangs

Ogden 7, Utah 1 – The Ogden Mustangs defeated their closest competition in the Mountain Division by six goals, scoring three times in the final period to pull away with a 7-1 win over the visiting Utah Outiers.

Artur Ogandzhanyan was nearly perfect in the Ogden net, stopping 28 of 29 shots.  Jan Dvorak scored the Utah goal midway through the first period, tying the game 1-1, but the Outliers never led in the game. 

Kerry Kruzel scored a pair of goals for Ogden and Rhett Rampinelli had a goal and two assists.

Jack Walsh made 30 saves for Utah.

Southern Oregon Spartans @ Ontario Avalanche

The Ontario Avalanche were visited by the Southern Oregon Spartans of the Northwest Division and the Avs won twice, picking up six important points in the Western Division race.  Ontario extended their lead over Valencia to 15 points as they try to hold onto fourth place over the Flyers, who have five games in hand.

Ontario 5, Southern Oregon 3 – The Ontario Avalanche stuck to their formula:  balanced scoring a strong goaltending, to defeat the visiting Southern Oregon Spartans, 5-3, on Saturday.

The game was even more in hand than the final score indicates, as the Spartans scored twice in the final 5:34 of the game, but they were already trailing by four goals…

Ontario’s Connor Duffy faced 43 shots and turned aside 41 of them.

Gabriel Lessard took over the Southern Oregon cage for the final period after the

Ontario 4, Southern Oregon 0 – Kurt Yano posted a 29-save shutout for the Avalanche on Sunday.  Ontario scored in each period of a 4-0 win. 

Four different Ontario skaters scored in the game, including Joshua Hodroff, who’s tally with 5:10 left in the first period broke the ice and held up as the game-winner thanks to Yano.

Liam Massie, Quinn Deshler and Charles Riordan also found the net for Ontario.

Gabriel Lessard (22 saves) was between the pipes for the Spartans.

--- Compiled by Scott Harrington for Harrington Sports Media