WSHL WEEKEND WRAP-UP; October 25-28, 2018

WSHL WEEKEND WRAP-UP; October 25-28, 2018

Southern Oregon Spartans @ Seattle Totems

The Seattle Totems claimed eight of a possible nine points to move within a single point of the first-place Bellingham Blazers in the Northwest Division.

Seattle 7, Southern Oregon 3 – Michael Shippee scored twice in the first 4:05 of the game to set the tone and the Seattle Totems rolled to a 7-3 win over the visiting Southern Oregon Spartans on Thursday.

Just 3:24 into the contest, Shippee picked up a pass just inside his own blue line, skated up the left wing into the Southern Oregon zone, cut to the middle of the ice and buried a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

Shippee scored again 41 seconds later, banging home a sharp centering pass from Gabriel Sbop at the top of the crease.

Miroslav Smid put the Spartans on the board at 6:09 when a long shot by Axel Low from just inside the blue line stopped was stopped, but Smid deposited the rebound.

After the flurry of goals to start the game, things quieted down for a little bit, but Seattle scored a pair of goals just :07 apart to take a three-goal lead into the locker room.  Sbop and Diminik Basek were the goal scorers for the Totems.

Shippee finished off a hat trick with a goal midway through the second period.  He also assisted on three goals for a six-point night.  Sbop had three points (2-1-3) and Michael Eastman made 29 saves for the Totems.

Austin Johnson made 25 saves for Southern Oregon.

Seattle 5, Southern Oregon 2 – Cam Gross scored two goals, including the game-winner, and added an assist as the Totems defeated the Spartans, 5-2, on Friday.

Benjamin Colvin took his turn between the pipes for Seattle and stopped 26 of 28 shots. 

Smid and Eric Vanderhoff scored for the Spartans, who got 23 saves from Jerimiah Clark.

Seattle 5, Southern Oregon 4 (OT) – In a thriller on Saturday night, the Spartans forced overtime with a goal in the final minute of regulation, but the Totems prevailed on a game-winner from Shippee 1:14 into sudden-death.

Seattle held leads of 3-0 and 4-1, but Southern Oregon worked their way back into the game.  They entered the third period down, 4-2, but Michele Vignoli Sanin got them within a goal with 12:01 left.

The Spartans continued to press for the tying goal, but Seattle’s Wyatt Monear (19 saves) kept making the stops he needed to.  His counterpart, Southern Oregon’s Austin Johnson, meanwhile, stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third period, holding the fort while the Spartans came back to tie.

It looked like the Totems were going to hold the Spartans off and claim three points for a regulation win but, with 47 seconds left in regulation, Rhys Cottle scored his third goal of the game for the Spartans, forcing overtime.

Johnson let the final shot get past him but, without his 43-save effort, the Spartans would not have earned a point in the standings.

Valencia Flyers vs. Long Beach Flyers (home-and-home)

The Long Beach Bombers and Valencia Flyers each posted wins on their home ice in a quick two-game set that demonstrates how tight the Western Division race is looking again this year.

Long Beach 5, Valencia 2 – The Valencia Flyers took a 2-1 lead into the third period in Long Beach Thursday night, but the Bombers came out flying in the final 20 minutes at home, scoring four unanswered goals for a 5-2 win.

Flyers netminder Brooks Dimarino stopped 18 of 19 shots in the first period as Valencia took the lead on goals by Danylo Moroz and Eimantas Noreika.  Tomas Urbanec finally solved Dimarino with 1:37 left in the period – his first of two goals on the night.

The two teams played through an evenly-played and scoreless second period with the Bombers holding a slight edge in shots on goal, 9-8, but Urbanec’s second of the night 46 seconds into the third opened the floodgates.

Eric Lovestrand, Diego Gluck and Erik Sillerstrom were the other goal scorers for the Bombers and Matthew Genter (23 saves) stopped all 17 shots he faced over the final two periods to backstop the comeback.

Dimarino finished the game with 35 saves.

Valencia 2, Long Beach 1 – Friday night in Valencia, the Flyers again took a 2-1 lead, this time protecting it and picking up the split behind a 34-save effort from Mack Willy.

The game was scoreless for the first 36:02 as Willy and Long Beach veteran Domenic Bosetti (31 saves) matched each other save for save.

The Bombers out-shot the Flyers, 14-9, through a scoreless first period, and the Flyers held a slight edge in shots in the second frame, but it wasn’t until the 16:02 mark of the second that the ice was finally broken.  Lucas Demsar scored to give Valencia the lead and the two teams went into the second intermission with the Flyers up, 1-0.

3:07 into the third period, Tristan Warr gave the Flyers an insurance goal and they clamped down trying to protect the two-goal lead.

Maxwell Kahn put the Bombers on the board with 5:22 left, but Willy the Flyers made the one-goal lead stand up for a playoff-type 2-1 win on their home ice that gave them three big points in the Western Division standings.

Wichita Jr. Thunder @ El Paso Rhinos

The Wichita Jr. Thunder showed some flashes of strong play, and did not make things easy on their hosts, but the El Paso Rhinos swept all nine points from their three-game series. 

El Paso 12, Wichita 2 – Friday’s series opener was fairly close through the first period.  The Rhinos busted out to a 3-0 lead, but Wichita’s Felix Ryberg scored the first of his two goals with 3:47 left and it was just a two-goal lead for El Paso after one period.

The Rhinos banged home four unanswered goals in the second period, however, on their way to a 12-2 win.  Ten different skaters scored goals for the Rhinos and Justin Cole-Dubecky picked up four assists.

Bronson Sudberry played the final two periods in the Wichita crease and made 36 saves.  Nils Velm made 12 stops for El Paso.  

El Paso 3, Wichita 1 – Sudberry stopped 34 of 35 shots through the first two periods of Saturday’s game and it went into the third period tied, 1-1, but the Rhinos scored twice for a 3-1 win.

Sudberry finished the game with 51 saves – 17 in each period.

The visiting Jr. Thunder actually led, 1-0, at the end of the first period thanks to a goal from Erik Back.  Wichita had just killed off a Rhinos power pay when El Paso took a penalty of their own and had to play shorthanded.

As a Rhinos defender went to clear the puck down the ice from just inside his own blue line, the puck hit a leg and stayed in the zone.  It ricocheted to Marcus Ohlsson-Ornelius who fired a shot from the right circle that Pickles stopped, but the rebound kicked out in front to Back who slid it into an open net.

Shots were 17-6 in favor of El Paso at the end of the opening frame but Sudberry and the Jr. Thunder found themselves in front.

The only goal of the second period came at the 4:30 mark when the Rhinos, skating 4-on-3, finally solved Sudberry.  El Paso’s Dillon Manchester won a draw in the Wichita zone that went back to Dominik Sedlacek at the point and his blast was stopped but the puck squirted out of a crowd in the crease to Jonas Burman who tapped the puck over the line to tie the game.

Still, the Rhinos were not able to build on that and the game remained tied gong into the third period.

Just under four minutes into the third, Martin Dubsky scored what ended up being the game-winner for El Paso.  With the Rhinos again on the power play, the puck was moved from Dominic Erdt at the point down to Mitchell Rutledge near the goal line to the right of Sudberry.  Rutledge found Dubsky with a seam pass across the net front and he fired it home before Sudberry could get post-to-post.

Wichita was still in the game, but Filip Schultz gave the home team some breathing room about four minutes later.  There was a scrum behind the El Paso net and Burman moved the puck up to Manchester who skated swiftly across the blue line at the left wing, slowed the play down, and found the trailer Schultz, who stepping into the pass and wired a wrist shot past Sudberry to make it 3-1.

The Jr. Thunder did not stop working for the remainder of the game but the final score would not change:  3-1 El Paso.

Pickles finished with 11 saves on 12 shots.

El Paso 10, Wichita 1 – The Rhinos completed the sweep with a commanding 10-1 win on Sunday.  Braeden Thomas actually put Wichita up, 1-0, 7:31 into the contest, but it was all El Paso from that point forward.

Chaseton Sare had a hat trick and added an assist.  Justin Cole-Dubecky and Donald Alchin each had four assists and Lane Timmons (14 saves) rebounded from the early goal against to shut the door.

Sudberry want the distance for the Jr. Thunder, making 59 saves.

Oklahoma City Blazers @ Utah Outliers

The Oklahoma City Blazers and Utah Outliers split a pair of one-goal games to start their series before the Blazers scored three shorthanded goals to win, 3-0, on Sunday.

Utah 4, Oklahoma City 3 – Vitali Mikhailov scored 5:10 into the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give the visiting Oklahoma City Blazers the lead, but the Utah Outliers scored twice to post a 4-3 comeback win on Friday night.

Midway through the third period, Jakub Lelek worked the puck over to Tristan Slot in the left circle and he beat OKC netminder Bobby Cloutier cleanly with a wrist shot to tie the game, 3-3.

With 2:57 left in the third game, Nicholas Ness threw the puck on net from the right-wing boards and it somehow eluded Cloutier for his second goal of the night to give Utah their first lead of the game.  The Outliers took a penalty right after the goal and added a bench minor to give the Blazers a 5-on-3 power play, but Oscar Wahlgren (36 saves) and the Outliers killed it off and prevailed.

Cloutier made 31 saves for the Blazers, who also got goals from Michael Jensen and Daniel Beranek.

Oklahoma City 3, Utah 2 – Vitali Mikhailov scored with :05 left in the game to give the Blazers a 3-2 win on Saturday.

Henrik Overvall pinched down the left-wing boards as the Outliers tried to break the puck out of their end.  He separated the Utah defenseman from the puck and centered it to Mikhailov, who’s one-timer trickled through Utah goalie Oscar Wahlgren (29 saves).

Oklahoma City’s Dylan Koch scored the only goal of the game’s first 44:12. He intercepted a D to D pass in the slot, took a step towards the goal and beat Wahlgren with a quick wrist shot over the glove from between the circles.

Utah out-shot OKC, 18-12, in a scoreless second period.

Utah tied it up on a nice tick-tac-toe passing play early in the third period.  Jakub Lelek skated the puck into the Blazers zone, pass to Jan Dvorak on the right wing and had made a nice backhand dish to Matt Bartel who buried a quick shot.

The game remained tied, 1-1, until Oklahoma City took their second lead of the game with 6:25 left.  Overvall kept a clearing attempt in at the blue line and played it around the boards to Stephane Doering behind the net and he centered it to Tobias Thorner who buried a one-timer.

Shortly thereafter, Utah went on a power play and a prime scoring chance by Bartell in the slot was stopped by OKC goalie Bobby Cloutier, but Nicholas Ness banged in a rebound to make it 2-2.

Utah out-shot their guests, 43-32, but Cloutier (41 saves) was the difference in net.

Oklahoma City 3, Utah 0 – Doering scored twice and Cloutier posted a 28-save shutout in a 3-0 win for Oklahoma City on Sunday in which all three goals were scored shorthanded.  The series finale was an intense, tight-checking game that went on for 46:04 of game time before anybody scored.

Jordan Sgro finally lit the lamp at 6:04 of the third period, then Doering followed up with his first of the game just 39 seconds later.

With the Outliers working the puck around the OKC zone on the power play, the puck was played back to the point man just inside the blue line.  The puck skipped over his stick and Sgro was off to the races, out-skating a backchecker and sliding the puck along the ice on Kenton Kim’s glove side.

The Utah power pay continued but, as the last man back skated the puck out of the Outliers zone, he mis-handled the puck.  Doering jumped on it, skated around the defenseman broke in alone on Kim, going upstairs on his stick side to put the home team back on their heels.

That was the only scoring until Doering added his second tally of the game with 8:10 left.  With OKC skating a man short again, Doering forechecked aggressively, forcing Utah to cough the puck up to Henrik Overvall.  Doering then skated to the front of the net where Overvall found him with a centering pass.  Doering went upstairs on Kim again for the Blazers’ third shorty of the game.

Kim (22 saves) matched Cloutier save for save for over two periods but, ultimately, was tagged with a tough loss.

Hinton Wildcats @ Cold Lake Wings

Cold Lake 7, Hinton 6 (OT) – Dorian Hall scored 17 seconds into overtime to give the Cold Lake Wings a thrilling 7-6 sudden-death win over the visiting Hinton Wildcats Friday night.

Early in the OT, Hall rushed the puck all the way up from beside his own net, squeezed between two Wildcats and the boards, cut to the front, and banged home his own rebound to end a wildly entertaining game and send the Wings faithful home happy.

Hinton jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, but the Wings responded, scoring the next four goals to take the lead.  Ilias Okemow scored the first and fourth goal of the spree and also collected four assists in the game – including one on Hall’s game-winner.

The game was then tied at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 as the two teams traded goals in the third period, setting the stage for Hall’s heroics.

Dmitri Buttazzoni scored a pair for Hinton and Kyle Franceschini made 28 saves for the Wildcats.

Although he gave up six goals, Cold Lake netminder Brendan Culbertson made some big stops when he needed to, making 49 saves in the game – including 20 in the first period when the game could have gotten out of hand.

West Sound Admirals vs. Bellingham Blazers (home-and-home)

The Bellingham Blazers defeated the West Sound Admirals both on the road, and at home, over the weekend and used the six points to hold onto first place in the WSHL’s Northwest Division.

Bellingham 4, West Sound 2 – Thomas Steven scored twice in the first period to give the Bellingham Blazers a 2-0 lead, and completed a hat trick with a third period insurance goal, in a 4-2 Blazers road win over the West Sound Admirals in Bremerton Friday night.

Vladislav Polyashov and Dmitri Murinov scored for West Sound, tying the game early in the second period, but Robbie Eichelberger responded just 19 seconds after Murinov’s tally to restore Bellingham’s lead going into the third period.

Noah Bird made 34 saves for the Admirals, repelling 13 of 14 shots in the second period, but took the loss to Bellingham’s Edward Coffey (29 saves).

Bellingham 13, West Sound 4 – Back on their home ice Saturday night, the Blazers scored six times in the second period to break a 2-2 tie and propel themselves to a 13-4 win.

Steven notched another hat trick – this time scoring four times – and Timothy Prexler (3-2-5) and Jamahl Eackett (1-5-6) also had big nights as the Bellingham veterans led the charge.

Bird made 39 more saves for the Ads while, despite the score, Kolter Pawlick had to be sharp for the Blazers, making 30 saves.

Ogden Mustangs @ Casper Bobcats

The Ogden Mustangs kept their undefeated record intact, going into Casper and sweeping nine points from the Bobcats to stay 15 points clear of second-place Utah in the Mountain Division.

Ogden 7, Casper 0 – Owen Zdunski posted a 16-save shutout, Bryason Bartell and Ammon Anderson scored two goals apiece, and the Ogden Mustangs picked up a 7-0 road win over the Casper Bobcats on Friday.

Four different players scored for Ogden in the first period, including Anderson’s first of the night, and the Mustangs cruised from there.  Ogden’s Lukas Kucera had three assists.

Kayne Pasquet and Ludwig Nordqvist split the goaltending duties for the Bobcats with Pasquet making 47 saves – 26 in the second period.  

Ogden 8, Casper 1 – Anderson scored two more goals, as did Lukas Vacin, as the Mustangs again built a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period and rolled to an 8-1 win.

Shane Gilbert had three assists while Artur Ogandzhanyan and Alexander Neverve split the goaltending duties for Ogden.

Brennan Wright scored the Casper goal late in the second period.

Ogden 6, Casper 2 – Rhett Rampinelli scored two goals, assisted on two others, and Zdunski made 28 saves on 30 shots to backstop the Mustangs to a 6-2 win on Sunday.

Casper goaltender Louis Busch stopped 19 of 20 shots in the first period to hold the score to 1-0 Ogden at the first intermission. 

Bruno Ndossi and Oscar Andersson scored the goals for the Bobcats.

Northern Colorado Eagles vs. Cheyenne Stampede (home-and-home)

The Northern Colorado Eagles and Cheyenne Stampede continued their rivalry despite no longer being division foes.  The Eagles took both ends of the two-game series, winning games in Cheyenne Friday and Greely, CO on Saturday.

Northern Colorado 6, Cheyenne 1 – The Cheyenne Stampede played with the visiting Northern Colorado Eagles for the first 40 minutes of Friday’s game, trailing by just a goal, 2-1, heading into the third period.  But the Eagles scored four unanswered goals to put away a 6-1 road win.

Northern Colorado netminder Marshall Murphy had to be sharp as the Stampede had a 5-on-3 power play late in the second period, trailing by a goal, but Murphy (15 saves) and the Eagles.

Sean McMahon put the game away with a pair of goals, coming at 11:02 and 12:19.  Cameron Braun also had a pair of goals for NoCo.

Gavin Miller scored the Cheyenne goal, tying the game at 1-1, 7:08 into the contest.

Stampede netminder Juho Salmela kept Cheyenne in the game as long as he could, stopping 30 of 32 shots through the first two periods and making 43 saves overall.

Northern Colorado 7, Cheyenne 1 – The Stampede struck first on Saturday night and led, 1-0, after the first period, but the Eagles controlled the play in the second period and scored four unanswered goals to go up, 4-1, by the second intermission on their way to a 7-1 win.

Jeremy Velazquez scored the Cheyenne goal while Ethan Dupont and Trent Hines tallied two apiece for Northern Colorado and Jacob Elik collected three assists.

Danny Yockey made his season debut in the Cheyenne crease and faced 60 shots, stopping 53.

Eagles goalie Marshall Murphy kicked out 13 of 14. 

Fresno Monsters @ San Diego Sabers

The San Diego Sabers won in front of their home fans on Friday night, but the visiting Fresno Monsters took the next to win the series.

San Diego 4, Fresno 2 – Goals from Ashton Jones and Isaiah Frankel 1:26 apart early in the third period gave the San Diego Sabers a 3-1 lead over the Fresno Monsters and they held on for a 4-2 win in Friday’s series opener.

The win gave the Sabers a measure of revenge after the Monsters eliminated them from the 2018 Western Division playoffs.

After 35:40 of scoreless hockey, David Grindstaff bumped the puck up the wall and a streaking Chance McCardle skated into the pass, drove hard down the left wing, and fired a puck that trickled through Fresno goaltender Max Karlenzig to break the ice with 4:20 left in the second period.

It was the only shot out of 33 that Karlenzig faced through the first two periods to elude him.  He finished the game with 44 saves.

Aleksei Vereshchagin, meanwhile, was spectacular in the San Diego net, stopping all 27 shots he saw through the first 40 minutes and making 34 saves on the night.

The Sabers gained momentum and confidence as the game wore on, out-shooting Fresno 15-9 in the third period and scoring three times.

Dustin Truex and Nikita Garin scored for the Monsters.  Garin’s tally made it a one-goal game with 5:20 remaining, but Fresno could not get the equalizer past Vereshchagin and Jakub Vesely sealed it with a goal in the final minute.

Fresno 7, San Diego 3 – Saturday’s game was tied, 3-3, going into the third period, but the Monsters broke out with four unanswered goals for a 7-3 win.  Logan Domagala scored two goals, including the game-winner, and Garin added a pair of his own.

Karel Kankovsky scored twice for San Diego.  He and Vesley scored in the final 2:48 of the second period to bring the Sabers back from a 3-1 deficit and tie the game at the second intermission.

Marshall McKallip made 31 saves for the Sabers, but was bested by Karlenzig who had another big game for the Monsters, stopping all 15 shots he faced in the third period and ending the game with 36 saves.

Truex assisted on the first three Fresno goals of the third period.

Fresno 4, San Diego 1 – Domagala scored the first and last goals of the game and Karlenzig stopped 28 of 29 as the Monsters won Sunday’s rubber match, 4-1.

San Diego out-shot Fresno, 10-7, in a scoreless first period.  Domagala finally opened the scoring 8:05 into the second period.  Cole Beckman made it 2-0 Monsters later in the period.

Vesely put San Diego on the board in the first minute of the third period, cutting the Fresno lead to a single goal, but Karlenzig’s play in net prevented the Sabers from mounting any more of a comeback.

Vereshchagin played another strong game between the pipes for the Sabers, making 32 saves.

Steamboat Wranglers @ Dallas Snipers

The Dallas Snipers kept themselves in the thick of the Mid-Western Division race by winning three games over the visiting Steamboat Wranglers.

Dallas 5, Steamboat 3 – Dallas won the series opener, 5-3.  The first two times the Snipers scored the Wranglers tied the game back up, but Danil Trenikhin and Igor Litvinenko scored in the final 1:13 of the second period to give Dallas a 4-2 lead at the break.

Avery Albert got the Wranglers back within a goal with 7:37 left in the game, but Trenikhin’s second goal of the night with 2:45 left sealed the deal for the Snipers.  With the two teams playing 4-on-4, Arvidas Domeika made a long pass from the Dallas goal line extended all the way to Trenikhin at the Steamboat blue line.  He skated the puck to the right circle, cut to the middle, and beat Steamboat’s Jordan Belley (39 saves) with a sharp wrist shot.

Alexander Aleshkin made a number of 10-bell saves in the final two minutes to preserve the win.  He stopped 17 of 18 shots in the third period and made 34 saves on the night.

Dallas 5, Steamboat 2 – Five different Dallas skaters scored goals and Kyle Plantz stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Snipers in a 5-2 win on Saturday.

Steamboat’s Dalton Eagle Bear gave the Wranglers an early lead when he broke the ice just 3:10 after the opening puck drop, but the Snipers tied it up before the end of the period on an Igor Litvinenko goal, then took the lead with two unanswered goals in the second period.

Ian Young made 32 saves for the Wranglers.

Dallas 11, Steamboat 5 – Steamboat took a 5-4 lead into the third period on Sunday, but the wheels came off and Dallas scored seven unanswered goals in the third for an 11-5 win.

Trenikhin notched a hat trick and added a pair of assists for a five-point game.  Leo Selitaj (2-1-3) scored twice but, other than those two, the Snipers spread the scoring around. 

Aleshkin (22 saves) did not allow a goal on 19 shots over the final two periods.

Belley made 43 saves for the Wranglers, who’s five goals came from five different players. Jeremy Landers, Jr., Albert and Tyrell Bourk scored in a span of 1:26 early in the game to spot Steamboat a 3-0 lead, and they did not trail in the game until Trenikhin’s third goal 3:32 into the third period.

Long Beach Bombers @ Ontario Avalanche

Long Beach 2, Ontario 1 – The Long Beach Bombers went into Ontario Saturday night and picked up three points, scoring twice in the first period and holding on for a 2-1 regulation win.

Erik Sillerstrom, at 12:44, and Krystof Knapek, at 17:51, scored the Bombers goals in the opening frame.  That would be all of the offense that Long Beach could produce against Ontario netminder Connor Duffy, who stopped all 27 shots he faced over the final two periods and made 43 saves in all.

The Avalanche out-shot the Bombers, 21-13, in the second period and scored the only goal – off the stick of Jeremy Van Dyke 1:28 into the frame, but the two teams played scoreless hockey the rest of the way thanks to Duffy and Long Beach goalie Matthew Genter (34 saves), who protected a one-goal lead for the final 28:32 of game time.

Long Beach out-shot Ontario, 14-10, in a scoreless third period.

Hinton Wildcats @ Meadow Lake Mustangs

Hinton 9, Meadow Lake 5 – Dmitri Buttazzoni and Brendan Auguer each scored hat tricks to lead the Hinton Wildcats to a 9-5 win at Meadow Lake Saturday.

There was a lot of scoring in the game but it actually started out pretty tame with the score tied, 1-1, after the opening 20 minutes.  Auger’s first goal of the game, 2:25 into the second period, gave Hinton a 2-1 lead, and they took control of the game with three goals in a span of 2:18 later in the period.

It was 6-2 Hinton after two periods and each team scored twice in the third for the 9-5 final.  Five different players scored goals and Skyler Hildebrand made 41 saves for Meadow Lake.

The Mustangs had sustained pressure on Hinton goalie Justin Dupuis all night, but he came through with 45 saves for the Wildcats.  He stopped 30 of 32 shots through the first two periods.

Edson Aeros @ Cold Lake Wings

Edson 6, Cold Lake 3 – Sebastian Heden scored three goals, including the game-winner, as the Edson Aeros broke open a 2-2 game in the third period for a 6-3 win.

With Cold Lake on the power play early in the third period, Kevin Lundin picked up a loose puck just inside the Edson blue line and fired a rink-wide pass that banked off the left-wing boards to Emil Johansson who went in all alone on Cold Lake’s Maximilian Gaudet and beat him with a wrist shot to the glove side.

Heden’s second goal of the night came about three and a half minutes later to give Edson some breathing room.  Johansson, who had three assists in the game, fed Heden on the left wing as he picked up speed through the neutral zone, cut wide around a Wings defender and beat Gaudet with a move to his backhand.

Heden completed his hat trick later in the period to give Liam Austin (23 saves) and the Aeros some breathing room.

The Cold Lake goals came from Nigel Cardinal (two) and Johan Crowchild. 

Gaudet did what he could in the Wings net, making 51 saves – 19 in the third period – but taking the loss.

Seattle Totems @ West Sound Admirals

West Sound 5, Seattle 4 – The Seattle Totems had a chance to take over first place in the Northwest Division, but let the opportunity slip away as they dropped a 5-4 game to the Admirals in West Sound.

The Totems looked like a team playing their fourth game in four days, falling behind 2-0 in the first period and giving up two more goals in the first 2:19 of the second to put themselves in a four-goal hole.

Seattle managed to work their way back into the game.  Braden Sanchez scored with :28 left in the second period to get the Totems within a goal at 4-3, but Artem Popov scored with :17 left on the clock to restore West Sound’s two-goal advantage.

Sanchez scored again with 12:44 left in the game to again make it a one-goal contest, but Alex Olsson (29 saves) and the Admirals kept them off the board the rest of the way to earn the regulation win and three points.

Popov was the fifth different West Sound skater to score a goal in the game.

Wyatt Monear made 23 saves for the Totems.

--- Compiled by Scott Harrington for Harrington Sports Media