WSHL WEEKEND WRAP-UP; March 7-10, 2019

by Scott Harrington

Long Beach Bombers @ Valencia Flyers

Long Beach 4, Valencia 3 (OT) – The Valencia Flyers rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit to force overtime, but Tomas Urbanec scored :31 into OT to give the Long Beach Bombers a 4-3 win in the WSHL’s lone Thursday game.

Early in sudden-death, Urbanec picked up the puck off a draw in the Long Beach zone and took off, skating through all three Valencia defenders, holding off the last one as he shoveled the puck on net with one hand from in close to the left of the goal.  The puck found its way into the net and the Bombers kicked off a stretch of four games in four days with a win.

Valencia gained a point in the standings, and some confidence from taking the division’s top team to overtime, but they still finish in fifth place.

Long Beach took a two-goal lead into the third period, but goals from Valencia’s Nikita Garin and Samuel Sabos forced OT.

Wichita Jr. Thunder @ El Paso Rhinos

The El Paso Rhinos clinched the Mid-Western Division title by sweeping nine points from the visiting Wichita Jr. Thunder.  Wichita will now face Dallas in the 4/5 play-in series for the right to earn a return trip to El Paso in two weeks for a division semifinal match-up.

El Paso 9, Wichita 1 – Jonas Burman scored the first two goals of the game and completed a hat trick in a five-goal third period for El Paso as the Rhinos pulled away in a 9-1 win over Wichita on Friday.

Martin Dubsky (1-4-5) also had a big night for the Rhinos and Nils Velm stopped 14 of 15 shots in the El Paso net.

Marcus Ohlsson-Ornelius scored the Wichita goal in the third period.

El Paso 12, Wichita 2 – Ten different El Paso skaters scored in the game and the Rhinos pulled away with seven third-period goals in a 12-2 win on Saturday.

Samuel Robinson and Justin-Cole Dubecky each scored twice and had an assist.

Braeden Thomas scored both of the Wichita goals.

El Paso 16, Wichita 1 – The Rhinos completed the sweep with another dominant win on Sunday, scoring nine times in the third period of a 16-1 win.

Florian Seelman (3-1-4) and Oliwer Stensson (3-1-4) each notched hat tricks and Adam Stalzer (2-3-5), John Erramousepe (2-3-5) and Dubecky (0-5-5) had big night as well.

Lukas Johansson scored in the second period for Wichita.


Hinton Wildcats @ Meadow Lake Mustangs

Meadow Lake 6, Hinton 2 – Meadow Lake goaltender Scott Danylak stopped 41 of 43 shots and Andrew Hawes (2-2-4) figured in four of six goal for the Mustangs in a 6-3 win over Hinton on Friday.

Samuel Gendron and Max Gaudet split the game in the Hinton net with each making 20 saves.

Hawes, playing his first game in a month, scored the first two of three Meadow Lake goals in the final 5:01 of the first period as the Mustangs opened up a three-goal lead at the first intermission.

Brendan Auger and Shaun Peacock scored for Hinton.


Fresno Monsters @ Valencia Flyers

Fresno 4, Valencia 2 – Twice the visiting Fresno Monsters opened up a two-goal lead, and twice the Flyers cut it to a goal, but Petr Philippov’s goal at the 5:45 mark of the second period put the Monsters up 4-2 and Tyler Mathews made it hold up as the two teams played scoreless hockey for the final 34:15 of the game.

Tyler Mathews made 32 saves for Fresno, stopping all 10 shots in the third period to protect the Monsters lead.

With Fresno up, 2-0, at the start of the second period, Danylo Moroz scored just :15 into the period to get the Flyers within a goal, but Blaire Maguire responded for the Monsters just :19 later to restore the two-goal lead for the Monsters.

It was Fresno’s first win since February 1 (0-4-0-1).

Brooks Dimarino made 30 saves for Valencia.


Seattle Totems vs. West Sound Admirals

Seattle took care of business, sweeping nine points from the West Sound Admirals to keep themselves mathematically alive in the Northwest Division race.  If the Totems can sweep first-place Bellingham next week in a home-and-home series – and win both games in regulation – they would steal the division title from the Blazers.

Seattle 10 @ West Sound 4 – Cameron Waisman’s hat trick led the Seattle Totems to a 10-4 road win over the West Sound Admirals Friday night in Bremerton, WA.

Waisman scored a pair of goals 2:18 apart late in the first period and added a third early in the second period.

Dominik Cach had a pair of goals and Linus Eriksson picked up four assists for the Totems.

Randy Yeakley scored two of the four West Sound goals – the first one breaking the ice at the 4:03 mark of the first period. Harming Vining put the Admirals up 2-0 just 1:07 later, but the Totems took over from there. 

West Sound 2 @ Seattle 13 – Seattle scored seven times in the third period to pull away in a 13-2 win on Saturday.  Four different Totems scored twice in the game including Temirlan Skindirov and Larsen Tubbs, who also had two assists each.

Braden Sanchez and Tom Ignatovich also had two-goal nights for the Totes and Seattle netminder Wyatt Monear stopped 16 of 18 shots.

Seattle 11 @ West Sound 1 – Sunday’s contest was a two-goal game after one period, but Seattle broke it open with five unanswered goals in the second and cruised to an 11-1 win.

David Dunn scored for West Sound with just under two minutes left in the game as the Ads avoided the shutout bid by Totems netminder Rustam Kulizade (19 saves).

Eriksson and Cam Gross each notched hat tricks for Seattle.



Ontario Avalanche @ Southern Oregon Spartans

Ontario headed on the road for three inter-division games in Southern Oregon, and won the series, but left enough points on the table to come up just short in their quest to catch third-place San Diego in the Western Division standings.  The Avalanche made a nice push in the second half of the season, but were unable to move up a notch in the standings and, as a result, will host Valencia in a best-of-three series next weekend with the winner moving on to Long Beach for the division semifinals.

Ontario 4, Southern Oregon 3 (OT) – Cole Parker tied the game with 3:16 to go in the third period and Joshua Hodroff won it 2:02 into overtime as the Ontario Avalanche came back to beat the Southern Oregon Spartans, 4-3, Friday.

With a delayed penalty coming up on the Spartans, Kyle Barrett carried the puck into the Southern Ontario end to the top of the left circle, then sent a long cross-ice pass to Brett Ruiz at the bottom of the right circle.  Ruiz then played it back to the middle of the ice for Hodroff to was able to slide it into the open cage before Spartans goalie Kayden Pickles was able to slide back over.

It was a tough end to the game for Pickles, who made 44 saves on the night and stopped 21 of 22 shots in the third period.

Ruiz (2-2-4) scored the first two goals of the game for the Avalanche, then assisted on the tying and winning goals.

Eric Vanderhoff scored twice for Southern Oregon with his second goal giving them a 3-2 lead with 7:02 to go in the game.

Kurt Yano made 27 saves for the Avalanche.

Southern Oregon 4, Ontario 1 – The Spartans gave the home crowd something to cheer for Saturday night, as Logan Emery and Jeffrey Gula scored 2:21 apart late in the third period to open up a four-goal lead and Southern Oregon held on for a 4-1 win.

Ontario’s Coe Parker scored in the final minute of the game to ruin the shutout bid of Chris O’Shaughnessy, who made 36 saves in the game.

O’Shaughnessy has posted a 4-0-0 record with a 1.48 goals-against average and .955 save percentage since making his Spartans debut two weeks ago.

Ontario 7, Southern Oregon 4 – A four-goal outburst in the second period lifted Ontario to a 7-4 win in Sunday’s series finale.

Four different Avs scored in a span of 7:25 as Ontario opened up a 6-3 lead, chasing Southern Oregon starting goaltender Gabriel Lessard.

Pickles came off the bench and made 22 saves the rest of the way, stopping 10 of 11 shots in the third period to stop the bleeding.

Matej Valicek (2-1-3) figured in three of the four Spartans goals.


Utah Outliers @ Casper Bobcats

Utah sent a message to their Mountain Division Semifinal opponent by dominating the Bobcats in a three-game sweep at Casper.  These same two teams will meet up in two weeks in West Valley City for a best-of-three playoff series.

Utah 5, Casper 0 – The Utah Outliers scored three times in a span of 2:22 in the first period to go up, 3-0, then let Oscar Wahlgren (11 saves) take it from there in a 5-0 win over the Bobcats in Casper Friday night.

Anthony Masanotti scored the first two goals in a matter of :23. 

The first goal came when Nicholas Ness hustled in to be the first one on the puck on a Utah dump-in.  He quickly put the puck on net from the right corner and Masanotti smacked in a rebound to break the ice.

Just :23 later he made it 2-0, finishing off a nice little three-way pass play when he tapped a Ness touch pass into the net from the post to the right of Casper goalie Ludwig Nordqvist (52 saves).  Zach Dornseifer also picked up an assist on the play.

Utah 10, Casper 1 – Utah built a 4-0 lead in the first period Saturday and never trailed in a 10-1 win.  Ness, Matt Bartel and Benji Mickel all lit the lamp twice for the Outliers and Charles-Olivier Lepage stopped 14 of 15 shots.

Alex Roth scored in the second period for Casper.  

Utah 6, Casper 1 – Six different Outliers scored and Wahlgren stopped 16 of 17 shots as Utah closed out the regular season with a 6-1 win.

Bryan Watters’ goal counted as the game-winner.  He finished the season with 11 points (5-6-11) in eight games since joining the Outliers from the Cheyenne Stampede at the trading deadline.

Alex Roth scored the lone Casper goal with 1:05 left in the contest, snatching the shutout from Wahlgren’s grasp.

Casper used a different goaltender in each period with Henry Deenee (21 saves on 23 shots) being the busiest.


Edson Aeros @ Cold Lake Wings

Edson 9, Cold Lake 4 – Five different Edson skaters scored in the first period as the Aeros jumped out to an early lead and cruised to a 9-4 win over the Wings in Cold Lake Friday night.

Emil Johansson scored two goals in the game – his 71st and 72nd of the season – and Kevin Lundin collected four assists.

Ilias Okemow scored twice and added an assist for Cold Lake.


San Diego Sabers @ Long Beach Bombers

Long Beach 6, San Diego 3 – The San Diego Sabers held a 3-1 lead early in the second period, but the Long Beach Bombers came storming back for a 6-3 win at home Friday.

The Bombers evened the score 3-3 by the end of the second period, then added three more in the third.

Gennady Malashenko and Tomas Urbanec each had two goals and two assists for the Bombers.

Matthew Genter made 40 saves for Long Beach, stopping 25 of 26 shots over the final two periods.

San Diego’s Marshall McKallip made 15 of his 32 saves in the second period.

Jakub Vesely scored twice in the first period for San Diego and Josef Kankovsky had three assists for the Sabers.


Oklahoma City Blazers @ Dallas Snipers

The Oklahoma City Blazers ran out of runway in their quest to steal the Mid-Western Division title from the El Paso Rhinos.  The Blazers posted a three-game sweep of the Snipers in Dallas, but that still left them four points behind.  Oklahoma City would happily trade a division playoff championship, and they will start working on that in two weeks when they host the Northern Colorado Eagles in a best-of-three division semifinal series.  Dallas will host Wichita next weekend in a first-round series.

Oklahoma City 3, Dallas 1 – Eric Eaton’s third period tally got the Dallas Snipers within a goal, but Joseph Allegrini’s goal with 4:17 left sealed a 3-1 win for the Oklahoma City Blazers on Friday.

Harri Kroll fanned on a one-timer from the top of the right circle but the puck trickled to the near post where Jordan Sgro backhanded a pass across the crease to Allegrini who had a wide-open net to look at for the game-winner.

Bobby Cloutier (27 saves) prevented the Snipers from getting the tying goal in the third period.

Dallas goaltender Alexander Aleshkin made 35 of his 43 saves over the first two periods.

Oklahoma City 7, Dallas 2 – Kroll scored twice and Xavier Garneau stopped 21 of 23 shots as the Blazers won, 7-2, on Saturday.

Kroll’s first goal, midway through the second period, gave OKC a 4-0 lead.  Sgro made it 5-0 just under two minutes later and the Blazers were in control.

Kyle Plantz (30 saves) kept the Snipers in the game as long as he could.  Ben Salem and Igor Litvinenko scored for Dallas.

Oklahoma City 5, Dallas 3 – Vitalii Mikhailov scored twice in the first 8:30 of the game as the Blazers built a 4-0 lead in the first period, and a Dallas comeback bid came up short, 5-3.

Owen Liskiewicz made 19 of his 35 saves in the second period and made the saves he needed to in the third as the Blazers withstood a late push by the Snipers.

Mikhailov’s second goal was the 135th of his WSHL career and tied him with Matus Spodniak for the WSHL’s all-time record.  Mikhailov hit the mark in one fewer game than Spodniak (145-146).  He also had a pair of assists in the game.


Ogden Mustangs @ Steamboat Wranglers

The Ogden Mustangs closed out a dominant regular season (47-2-0-2) with a dominant series, outscoring the Wranglers in Steamboat, 28-5, in a three-game sweep.  If the Wranglers can defeat the Cheyenne Stampede in next week’s play-in series, they will get a re-match with the Mustangs in Ogden in the Mountain Division Semifinals.

Ogden 10, Steamboat 2 – Ammon Anderson (3-2-5) and Rhett Rampinelli (1-5-6) led the way for the Ogden Mustangs in a 10-2 win over the Wranglers in Steamboat Friday night.

Tyrell Bourk scored both Steamboat goals and Ian Young made 47 saves for the Wranglers.

Ogden 8, Steamboat 1 – Steamboat goalie Jordan Belley made 24 saves in the first period alone to keep the game from getting out of hand early, but the Mustangs eventually exerted their dominance over the Wranglers in an 8-1 win.

Kerry Kruzel scored a hat trick, Rampinelli (1-4-5) picked up five more points, and Alexander Neverve allowed just one of 18 shots to get past him.

Sebastian Culver scored the Steamboat goal in the second period.

Belly went the distance in goal and made 71 saves in all.

Ogden 10, Steamboat 2 – Rampinelli led the charge for the Mustangs again in Sunday’s series finale, scoring three goals and assisting on three others in a 10-2 Ogden win.

Adam Albert scored both Steamboat goals in the final 5:12 of the game, ruining the shutout bid of Ogden’s Kevin Tardif, who made 23 saves.


Fresno Monsters @ San Diego Sabers

The Fresno Monsters picked up their first win in a long stretch Friday night at Valencia, and kept the momentum going with wins at San Diego Saturday and Sunday to head into the post-season with a good taste in their mouth.  It was especially important as the Monsters will be hosting the Sabers in a best-of-three Western Division Semifinal series in two weeks.  The Sabers, with losses in three straight and seven of their last nine, will try to head into the post-season on a high note by winning their regular season finale Tuesday night in Valencia.

Fresno 4, San Diego 2 – Four different Fresno players scored – including Jeremy Velazquez who scored the game-winner – as the Monsters defeated the San Diego Sabers, 4-2, in San Diego on Saturday.

Things were quiet for the first half of the first period, but then there was an outburst of four goals scored in a span of 5:40 – three of them for the Monsters.

Fresno’s Jonatahn Holguin scored the only goal of the second period and the Monsters carried a three-goal lead into the third.  Aleksis Leskinen scored at the 4:31 mark for San Diego, but Tyler Mathews (40 saves) and the Monsters kept them off the board the rest of the way.

Mathews stopped 31 of 32 shots through the first two periods.

Fresno 5, San Diego 1 – Petr Philippov scored twice in the first 8:04 of the game and the Monsters never trailed in a 5-1 win on Sunday.

Despite being held to a single goal, the Sabers generated lots of scoring opportunities.  Monsters netminder Max Karlenzig, however, was on top of his game, stopping 40 of 41 shots.

David Grindstaff was the only Saber to get one past Karlenzig, scoring early in the second period, but San Diego was already trailing 4-0 at that point.


Valencia Flyers @ Long Beach Bombers

The Long Beach Bombers finished off a tremendous season with a pair of home wins over the Valencia Flyers.  The Bombers will await the result of a play-in series between Ontario and Valencia and host the winner in two weeks in a Western Division Semifinal series.

Long Beach 8, Valencia 4 – The Valencia Flyers scored three straight goals in the third period to tie the game, 4-4, but the Long Beach Bombers scored twice late in the period, then added two more in the third for an 8-4 win on Saturday night.

Diego Gluck had a hat trick for the Bombers while Gennady Malashenko (2-2-4) and Tomas Urbanec (1-3-4) had four points each.

Valencia’s four goals came from four different skaters including Nikita Garin, who also had a pair of assists.

Matthew Genter made 25 saves for the Bombers and stopped all nine shots in the third period to preserve the win.

Long Beach 9, Valencia 2 – Urbanec scored three goals and assisted on three more in a 9-2 Long Beach win on Sunday.

Malashenko scored two more goals for the Bombers while Samuel Sabos and Austin Lykins scored the Flyers goals.

Brooks Dimarino went the distance in the Valencia cage, making 39 saves.


Edson Aeros @ Meadow Lake Mustangs

Edson 7, Meadow Lake 4 – Emil Johansson scored his 73rd and 74th goals of the season to lead the Edson Aeros to a 7-4 road win at Meadow Lake Saturday night.

Edson goalie Liam Austin was forced to make 25 of his 36 saves over the final two periods as the Mustangs pushed back.

Edson scored three times in the first 3:07 of the second period – including both of Johansson’s tallies – to open up a 4-2 lead.  Meadow Lake got within a goal by the second intermission, but the Aeros scored three more times in the third to put the game away.


Hinton Wildcats @ Cold Lake Wings

Hinton 6, Cold Lake 2 – Veaceslav Pinin assisted on five of Hinton’s six goals in a 6-2 win over the Wings at Cold Lake on Saturday night.

Pinin set up Dalton Eagle Bear twice in the game.

Ilias Okemow and Johan Crowchild scored the Cold Lake goals.

Avery Heath was between the pipes for Hinton, stopping 24 of 26 shots.


--- Compiled by Scott Harrington for Harrington Sports Media