WSHL WRAP-UP; January 25 – January 28, 2018

WEST SOUND WARRIORS @ SEATTLE TOTEMS

Warriors come back to win in Seattle

01.25.18 – West Sound 4, Seattle 3 (OT)

The Seattle Totems went out to a 3-0 lead on home ice Thursday, but the West Sound Warriors kept their cool, kept working, and came back for a 4-3 overtime win.

The Warriors scored three times in a span of 3:38 early in the third period to tie the game up.  The first two goals came off the stick of Dmitri Munirov.  Bryce Ebert score the equalizer with 11:38 left in the period and, for the rest of regulation time, Seattle’s Wyatt Monear (30 saves) and Krisof Dobos (22 saves) kept their opponents off the board.

Minorov scored 2:59 into sudden-death, completing his hat trick, and giving the Warriors a big road win.

IDAHO ICECATS @ SOUTHERN OREGON SPARTANS

IceCats need OT to complete sweep in Southern Oregon

01.25.18 – Idaho 6, Southern Oregon 4

01.26.18 – Idaho 4, Southern Oregon 0

01.27.18 – Idaho 2, Southern Oregon 1 (OT)

The Southern Oregon Spartans are the sixth-place team in the Northwest Division and had their hands full hosting the first-place Idaho IceCats but, in a series that showcases the depth of the division, the Spartans stayed in every game thanks in large part to a stellar effort from veteran netminder Austin Toussaint.

Idaho had leads of 3-1 and 4-2 on Thursday, but the Spartans came back to tie it with two goals 49 seconds apart in the second period.  Yanneck Kumli and Joel Holmberg, his second of the game for the Spartans, tied the game back up at 4-4. 

The IceCats prevailed, however.  Lance Herning, who also had a pair of assists in the game, scored the game-winning goal with 2:41 left in the second period.

The third period almost went by without any scoring, but Idaho added an insurance tally to make it a 6-4 final for the IceCats.

Toussaint made 56 saves – 22 of them in the third period – to keep the Spartans in the game.

Toussaint was on his game again on Friday, stopping 27 of 28 shots in the first period and finishing the game with 52 saves, but it was Idaho’s Jacob Hough with the shutout, making 18 of his 20 saves over the final two periods of a 4-0 IceCats win.

Four different skaters scored for the IceCats, including Hunter Lester, who provided the game-winner and also chipped in with an assist.

In one of the more impressive performances goaltending performances of the season, the Spartans took the IceCats to overtime on Sunday as Toussaint made an incredible 82 saves.  He kicked out 75 of 76 shots in regulation, before Idaho finally won it, 2-1, in overtime.

Lester, who also scored Idaho’s goal in regulation 3:23 into the second period, scored the winner in OT.  Felix Carlsson and Terry Ryder assisted on both of Lester’s goals.

Idaho out-shot the Spartans, 33-1, in the third period, but Toussaint stopped everything to single-handedly earn a point in the standings for Southern Oregon.

Southern Oregon led, 1-0, after the first period on a goal by Holmberg.

LONG BEACH BOMBERS @ TAHOE ICEMEN

Tahoe takes two of three games from first-place Bombers

01.25.18 – Tahoe 7, Long Beach 1

01.26.18 – Long Beach 8, Tahoe 1

01.27.18 – Tahoe 7, Long Beach 6 (OT)

The Tahoe Icemen are trying to regain second place in the Northwest Division, and they had a tall order this weekend as they welcomed the Western Division leaders from Long Beach in for a three-game series.  The Icemen ended up winning two of three games and tying West Sound for the all-important second spot in the division (they hold two games in hand on the Warriors).

Paul Frys scored a hat trick and Maximilian Haselbacher stopped 48 of 49 shots as the Icemen jumped on the Bombers with a 7-1 upset on Thursday.  

Haselbacher made 26 saves in the third period alone as the potent Bombers offense tried to get on the board.  Morgan Soderstrom ruined his shutout bid midway through the third period.

Long Beach bounced back with an 8-1 win on Friday.  Tomas Urbanec scored twice in the first 6:50 of the game to put the Bombers up, 2-0, and they never looked back.  

Amir Burguav and Erik Lundgren also scored twice for Long Beach and veteran netminder Domenic Bosetti came back from a rough start the night before and stopped 33 of 34 shots – including all 15 shots he faced in the first period.

Philip Heisse finally got the Icemen on the board midway through the third period.

In fitting fashion, with each team having won decisively, Saturday’s rubber match went back and forth for a full 60 minutes without deciding anything.  It took another 1:24 of sudden-death before Tahoe 

pulled out a 7-6 overtime win that will make the entire WSHL take notice.

Three times the Bombers took a one-goal lead and three times the Icemen tied it back up before they could build on it.  

Frys set up Gabriel Longshore at 14:30 of the second period to tie the game, 3-3, then set assisted on Mitch Hunt’s goal just 31 seconds later that gave Tahoe their first lead of the game.

Long Beach counter-punched with 3:48 left in the second period as Amir Burguaev tied the game back up.  Anton Ahlin gave the Bombers their fourth lead of the game with just 0:19 left in the period.

Giving the lead back in the final minute of the period could have been a back-breaker, but the Icemen came out confident in the third period, out-shooting the Bombers 13-7, and getting two quick goals to take the lead back.  Ilya Cetvertak scored 5:14 into the period to tie the game for the fifth time, then set up Heisse as the Icemen took their second lead, 6-5.

Miroslav Rohlik knotted the game, 6-6, with 10:26 left in regulation and neither team could score for the remaining time as play tightened up.

Cetvertak won it 1:24 into the first OT, giving Tahoe a huge win in the game and in the series.

Both teams used two goaltenders.  Wade Conlan entered the game early for Tahoe and made 43 saves to pick up the well-deserved “W”.

Soderstrom scored twice for the Bombers.

ONTARIO AVALANCHE @ FRESNO MONSTERS

Monsters beat Ontario in a game that features an Avalanche of goals

01.25.18 – Fresno 9, Ontario 8

Thursday’s game between the Avalanche and the Monsters in Fresno was a barn-burner that certainly gave the fans in Fresno their money’s worth.  The Monsters had a 3-0 lead in the first period and a 7-4 lead in the second, but it took Cody Key’s goal with 36 seconds left in the third period to give Fresno a 9-8 win.

Key’s game-winning goal was his third of the contest.  He also scored the first two goals of the game.

Brett Ruiz had a hat trick and Joseph Aguirre scored twice for the Avalanche.  Aguirre and Levi Hulston scored goals 29 seconds apart to tie the game up, 8-8, with 13:40 left in regulation.  At that point, the goals dried up all of a sudden.  The next 13 minutes went by without any scoring and it looked like the game was headed for overtime before Key finished it late in regulation.

Ontario’s Connor Duffy made 42 saves.

DALLAS SNIPERS @ EL PASO RHINOS

Rhinos continue to roll, sweep Snipers in El Paso

01.26.18 – El Paso 13, Dallas 0

01.27.18 – El Paso 16, Dallas 0

01.28.18 – El Paso 3, Dallas 1

The El Paso Rhinos took all six points from the visiting Dallas Snipers over the weekend, although they had to gut out a narrow victory on Sunday to complete the sweep and maintain a 10-point edge on the Oklahoma City Blazers for the Mid-West Division lead.

Justin-Cole Dubecky and Chaseton Sare scored two goals each to lead El Paso to a 13-0 win on Friday.  Filip Krasanovsky posted the shutout – his eighth of the season.

Dallas Klaassen (2-2-4) and Jayze Dundas-Schwartz (2-1-3) were the only Rhinos to dent the twine more than once in Saturday’s 16-0 win.  Jake Kopinski collected five assists and Kayden Pickles posted the clean sheet for El Paso.

Thanks to Dallas netminder Manny Legace, Sunday’s game went well into the third period tied, 1-1, before the Rhinos got a pair of late goals to secure the sweep with a 3-1 win.

El Paso out-shot Dallas, 21-2, in the first period but could not get anything past Legace.  As a matter of fact, Legace kept the Rhinos off the board for the first 32:02 of game time.  Chaseton Sare finally broke the ice at with 7:58 left in the second period, but the Snipers answered back just 43 seconds later with a goal from Noah Henslee, and the two teams went to the second intermission tied, 1-1.

The Rhinos continued to pepper the Dallas net with shots, but first 15 minutes of the third period went by without any scoring.  Finally, with just 4:49 left, Phillip Pugliese scored the game-winner for El Paso.

Tom Kuebler made a stretch pass to Donald Alchin, Jr. at the Dallas blue line and he drew two defenders to him, then slid a backhand pass to a streaking Pugliese who broke in alone on Legace and beat him between the pads.

Legace finished the game with 58 saves on 60 shots.  Sare added an empty-net goal in the final 30 seconds for the 3-1 final.

OKLAHOMA CITY BLAZERS @ SPRINGFIELD EXPRESS

Blazers post road sweep in Springfield, keep Rhinos in their sights

01.26.18 – Oklahoma City Blazers 7, Springfield 0

01.27.18 – Oklahoma City Blazers 6, Springfield 1

01.28.18 – Oklahoma City Blazers 7, Springfield 6

The Oklahoma City Blazers matched the six-point weekend of division-leading El Paso, staying within 10 points of the Rhinos at the top of the Mid-Western Division standings.

Ivan Bondarenko and Victor Ekk scored two goals apiece and Bobby Cloutier kicked out all 28 shots he faced in a 7-0 Blazers win on Friday.

Joshua Chamberlain (1-4-5) collected four assists for OKC, which blew the game open with four unanswered goals in the second period.

Griffin Wiencek and Joshua Chamberlain each had two goals and an assist to lead OKC to a 6-1 win on Saturday, but Cloutier was the #1 reason the Blazers came out on top.  Springfield out-shot their 

visitors in two of the three periods, and Cloutier had to be sharp, making 36 saves on 37 shots.

Dominik Sedlacek scored the Springfield goal.

The Express had leads of 3-1 and 5-2 on Sunday, but the Blazers came back with a well-balanced offense, winning 7-6.

The Blazers scored two goals 17 seconds apart early in the third period to tie the game, 5-5, but less than a minute later the Express went back ahead, 6-5.

After the flurry of three goals in 50 seconds, thing quieted down for a bit as Kayne Pasquet (30 saves) and the Express tried to protect a one-goal lead.

Cody Wardner tied up for the Blazers with 6:59 left and a minute later Drake Johnson made it 7-6 OKC.  That’s how it ended as Cloutier, who stopped 11 of 12 shots in the third period, prevented the Express from getting the equalizer and posted his third win of the weekend.

BELLINGHAM BLAZERS @ WEST SOUND WARRIORS

Novruzov leads Bellingham to comeback win at West Sound

01.26.18 – Bellingham 6, West Sound 5

Ruslan Novruzov scored three goals, including the game-winner, as the Bellingham Blazers came back from 3-2 and 4-3 deficits to win, 6-5, at West Sound on Friday.

Timothy Prexler (1-3-4) had a four-point game for Bellingham and Robbie Eichelberger also collected three assists for the Blazers.

The score was 4-3 West Sound after a wild first period, but Kolter Pawlick entered the Bellingham crease for the start of the second period and stopped 14 of 15 shots over the final two periods to backstop the Blazer’s comeback.

CHEYENNE STAMPEDE vs. SUPERIOR ROUGHRIDERS (home-and-home)

RoughRiders take both ends of home-and-home series from Stampede

01.26.18 – Cheyenne 1 @ Superior 9

01.27.18 – Superior 9 @ Cheyenne 1

The Superior RoughRiders won at home in Superior on Friday and in Cheyenne on Saturday, moving closer to clinching a top-four spot in the Mountain Division and home ice for the first round of the playoffs.

Nikita Sheberov scored five goals for Superior, including three straight in a span of 6:48 in the second period, to lead the ‘Riders to a 9-1 win at home on Friday.

Superior broke the ice just 1:01 into the game, but the visiting Stampede answered right back.  The RoughRiders led, 2-1, after the first period, but broke the game open with five unanswered goals in the second period.

The RoughRiders took Saturday’s game in Cheyenne by the same 9-1 score.  Sheberov (3-1-4) notched  

another hat trick and Bronson Sudberry allowed just one goal on 24 shots.

SAN DIEGO SABERS @ VALENCIA FLYERS

Keay, Kranabetter lead Flyers past Sabers

01.26.18 – Valencia 13, San Diego 2

Dawson Keay (4-3-7) and Jakob Kranabetter (2-5-7) led the charge as the Valencia Flyers skated past the visiting San Diego Sabers, 13-2, on Friday night. Nikita Pintusov (2-3-5) and Melwin Thorsson (2-1-3) also had two-goal games for the Flyers.

Ondrej Imrich and Elisha Reese scored for San Diego.

CASPER COYOTES @ COLORADO JR. EAGLES

Ossachuk shines for Casper in series at Colorado

01.26.18 – Colorado 6, Casper 3

01.27.18 – Colorado 5, Casper 0

01.28.18 – Casper 6, Colorado 4

The Colorado won the first two games against Casper but Dylan Ossachuk, who excelled all weekend, backstopped the Coyotes to a win on Sunday that prevented the Jr. Eagles from moving into first place in the Mountain Division.  They remain a point behind Utah and Ogden, so one point separates the top three teams in the division race.

Anders Saarela scored two goals, the ice-breaker and the game-winner, as the Jr. Eagles won the series opener, 6-3, on Friday evening.  Colorado took one-goal leads in the first and second periods, but the visiting Coyotes came back to tie each time.

Dallen Neese scored 20 seconds into the third period to give Casper their first lead of the game, 3-2, but the Jr. Eagles responded.  Joseph Roach tied it up, then Colorado scored three times in a span of 4:49 late in the period to put it away, 6-3.

Ossachuk made 46 saves for the Coyotes to keep them in the game well into the third period.

The Jr. Eagles scored four goals in the second period and Lajoie posted a 14-save shutout in a 5-0 Colorado win on Saturday.

Colorado out-shot Casper, 19-5, in the first period but Ossachuk stopped 18 of 19 to keep things close.  Sean McMahon scored the first two goals of the second period, however, as the Jr. Eagles took control. 

Four unanswered goals in the second period and 48 saves from Ossachuk led the Coyotes to a 6-4 win on Sunday.  Lindros Beard and David Pokorny each had two goals and an assist for Casper.

UTAH OUTLIERS vs. OGDEN MUSTANGS (home-and-home)

Outliers, Mustangs tied for first place after splitting

01.27.18 – Ogden 1 @ Utah 3 

01.28.18 – Utah 2 @ Ogden 3 (OT)

The Ogden Mustangs led the Utah Outliers by a point for the Mountain Division lead heading into their home-and-home series.  The two in-state rivals split, with the home team winning both games, but with Sunday’s game going into overtime the two teams emerged from the weekend tied for first place. 

Utah netminder Dawson Rodin stopped 45 of 46 shots as the Outliers posted an exciting 3-1 win in front of their fans on Saturday.

Oskars Ancitis and Dylan Massie lit the lamp for Utah as they took a 2-0 lead in the first period.

Ogden out-shot the Outliers in all three periods, including 16-9 in the middle frame, but Utah’s Kane Toriumi was the only player to score to make it 3-0.

Austin Dittenhafer put the Mustangs on the board 3:44 into the third period to give the Ogden bench some life, but that’s all Rodin would give them.

Tymen Edelkoort, who recently returned to the WSHL from Junior A hockey in Alberta, made 20 saves for Ogden.

Sunday in Ogden, Utah again took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Mustangs came back to tie it up and force overtime.

Ogden out-shot Utah, 16-11, in a scoreless third period as Rodin and Edelkoort matched each other save-for-save.  Rodin finished the game with 52 saves for the Outliers.  Edelkoort stopped 36 for the Mustangs.

Jacob Laurin won it for Ogden 2:32 into the second overtime.  Matus Spodniak crossed the blue line, turned to the middle of the ice, and hit Laurin with a pass as he cut to the net.  Laurin beat Rodin with a quick move to his backhand to finish the game and keep the Mountain Division race tighter than ever.

BELLINGHAM BLAZERS @ SEATTLE TOTEMS

Blazers win two in Seattle, widen lead on Totems

01.27.18 – Bellingham 3, Seattle 2

01.28.18 – Bellingham 6, Seattle 2

The Seattle Totems were hoping to close the gap on the team directly in front of them in the Northwest Division standings – the Bellingham Blazers – but find themselves 12 points out of fourth place after dropping both games.

Bellingham scored twice in the first 3:06 of the game, led 3-1 at the first intermission, and held on for a 3-2 win on Saturday.  Robbie Eichelberger had two first-period goals as the Blazers.

Ruslan Novruzov came down the left wing, cut to the middle past two defenders and wristed one on net that was stopped, but the rebound came out to Andrew Gammel who found the puck through a crowd and banged it home to break the ice.

Less than a minute later, Timothy Prexler took an outlet pass inside his own blue line and wound his way through the neutral zone and into the Seattle end with the puck.  He lost control, but got the puck towards the front of the net where a Seattle clearing attempt failed and Eichelberger finished to put 

the Blazers up, 2-0.

Michael Shippee scored with 1:07 left in the second period to get the Totems within one and set the stage for the final period.

The Blazers held Seattle to just two shots on goal in the third period as they circled the wagons in front of Edward Coffey (16 saves).

Eichelberger scored a hat trick and Ilya Abubakirov (2-2-4) chipped in a pair of goals in a 6-2 Bellingham win Sunday.

The Blazer goals in a span of 31 seconds broke the game open.

SAN DIEGO SABERS @ ONTARIO AVALANCHE

Hardin posts shutout in Avalanche debut

01.27.18 – Ontario 5, San Diego 0

The San Diego Sabers played the Ontario Avalanche close two week ago when the two teams got together in San Diego, and it was a one-goal lead after one period Saturday, but Ontario scored three times in the second period to open up a 4-0 lead and finished it off for a 5-0 win and a shutout for Aidan Harding (18 saves).

The five Ontario goals came from five different players.

Zach Hale made 26 saves for San Diego.

VALENCIA FLYERS @ FRESNO MONSTERS

Mannon hat trick sparks Monsters to win over Flyers

01.27.18 – Fresno 8, Valencia 3

The Fresno Monsters took a 4-3 lead into the third period, but Daylon Mannon scored three times in the final frame as Fresno won, 8-3.

Cody Key (1-3-4) and Logan Domagala had three assists each for the Monsters and Kyle Franceschini made 26 saves.

Valencia scored all three of their goals in the third period, pulling to within a goal after falling behind 4-1.

ONTARIO AVALANCHE @ VALENCIA FLYERS

Bouchard nets OT winner as Avs top Flyers

01.28.18 – Ontario 4, Valencia 3 (OT)

The Ontario Avalanche gave themselves a little breathing room as they try to hang onto second place in the Western Division.  They defeated the team directly behind them, the Valencia Flyers, 4-3 in overtime.  That turned a four-point lead in the standings into a five-point edge, although the Flyers hold two games in hand.

Ontario’s Connor Duffy and Walter Martishius of Valencia kept things scoreless after the first 20 minutes.  The Flyers opened up a 2-0 lead in the second period, but Ontario cut the lead in half before the second intermission, then scored twice to go ahead, 3-2, early in the third.

The intensity went up a notch or two as the division rivals battled through a one-goal game for most of the third period.  The Flyers pushed for the tying goal and finally got it when Dylan San Augustin scored with 1:06 left to send the game to overtime.

2:45 into the extra session, Alex Bouchard won it with his second goal of the game for Ontario.  Right-hand shot William Ma skated down the left wing into the Valencia zone and stopped with the puck, waiting for a trailer.  As the defense closed on him he dished the puck across the top of the zone and Bouchard skated into the pass, took a few strides, and beat Duffy to his stick side to end the Avalanche faithful hoe happy.

Duffy finished with 33 saves and, more importantly, the win.  Martishius stopped 30 pucks for Valencia.

--- compiled by Scott Harrington/Harrington Sports Media