FALL League Recap: Day Two Featured Exciting Contests and High-Paced Action

Day two of the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) FALL League has wrapped up as the teams brought the energy! Teams at both the 16U and 18U levels kept the intensity high throughout day two. Click here to see all the scores!

18U: 

Oklahoma 4 @ Minot 6 - Minot got off to a slow start on Friday, dropping their first two games, falling 1-5 against the United Hockey Federation and being unable to complete the comeback in a close battle with the Amarillo Wranglers, with a score of 6-8. The Minotauros found their rhythm on Saturday, coming back from a 4-0 deficit to pick up their first win of the tournament against the Oklahoma Warriors with a score of 6-4.  Friday’s first game opened with a four-goal first period: three for the United Hockey Federation and one for the Minotauros, making it 1-3. The United Hockey Federation scored a goal in the second and third periods to take a 5-1 lead. Friday’s second matchup started with two Amarillo goals to open the contest. Liam Krengel and Owen Kurth each found the back of the net in the second frame, but three Amarillo goals had the Minotauros down 5-2 heading into the final period. A four-goal final period wasn't enough to earn Minnesota the win, and they fell 6-8 to the Wranglers. The Minotauros found their rhythm throughout Saturday’s contest. The offense came out swinging in the first period, putting up four unanswered goals to take an early 4-0 lead. The Warriors answered back in the second, scoring three straight to cut the Minnesota lead to one. An early Oklahoma goal in the third deadlocked the game at four apiece, before Noah Kurth and Hudson Bohl each added a goal for the Minotauros to run away with their first win of the tournament with a score of 6-4

​Minnesota Metropolitan 4 @  Fairbanks 6 - The Fairbanks Ice Dogs started their weekend hot and kept that momentum throughout the first two days of the tournament. The Ice Dogs went undefeated with a pair of wins, defeating the Austin Bruins 6-3 and Minnesota Mallards 5-2 on Friday and coming out on top 6-5 in a close battle with the Minnesota Metropolis on Saturday. Friday’s games started with a back-and-forth battle with the Austin Bruins; the Ice Dogs scored three of the period's four goals, giving them a 3-1 lead heading into the second. The Bruins evened the score halfway through the period, but two Fairbanks goals to finish the frame put the Ice Dogs with a 5-3 lead going into the final period. A late third-period goal by Chase Russ secured the Ice Dogs' 6-3 victory. Friday’s second game opened with an early Mallards’ goal and a late Ice Dogs’ score to even the score at 1-1. Tyson Pavel scored the lone goal of the second period to give Fairbanks a 2-1 advantage heading into the last period. The Mallards scored early to deadlock the game at 2-2, before Brody Meister found the back of the net to put the Ice Dogs back on top. Two empty-net goals capped off an undefeated day for the Ice Dogs, winning the matchup 5-2. Saturday’s matchup started out close with the score tied 2-2 at the end of the opening period. The teams traded goals throughout the second to make the score 4-4 going into the final twenty minutes. Two Fairbanks goals were enough to lock down a 6-5 victory for the Ice Dogs.

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16U:

Minnesota W 4 @ St. Cloud 5 – The Minnesota Wilderness battled the St. Cloud Norsemen in a nail-biting competition Saturday night. St. Cloud sounded the horn first just over two minutes into the game with a pass-and-go goal by Nathan Deopere Peters, assisted by Brennan Wrobleski. Just three minutes later, St. Cloud was on the board again with a goal from Owen Atkinson. Minnesota W answered back minutes later with a goal of their own from Mikko Karjala. With 1:21 remaining in the first period, St. Cloud capitalized with one more on a power-play goal from Nolan Wiegele. In the second period, St. Cloud’s Atkinson and Wrobleski notched their second goals of the night, respectively. Late into the period, Karjala scored his second goal on a power play. The Wilderness came out hot in the third period, starting with a power play goal from Jax Colter. Liam Frick scored the last goal of the game and the fourth for Minnesota W with just 7:11 to go. Minnesota W continued to battle until the final buzzer, but St. Cloud managed to hold on for a 5-4 victory.

MNHP 4 @ Chippewa 7 – The Chippewa Steel secured a home win against MNHP in an exciting matchup Saturday night. Only 30 seconds into the first period, Andrew Bennis started off the scoring with a goal for MNHP. Six minutes later, MNHP was on the board again after a goal from Callan Kranz. Not 30 seconds later, Cal Vezina notched Chippewa’s first goal of the night, assisted by Justin Weeks. The duo followed up just seconds later with another goal and assist, tying the game 2-2. MNHP got back up with a goal from Noah Houck, but it was not long before Vezina tallied his third goal of the game on a power play. With both teams down a man early in the second period, Chippewa’s Levi Ihfe scored his first goal of the night, giving the Steel their first lead of the game. Chippewa began to pull away with the lead after a goal from Ian Kjeseth, but MNHP answered back with 6:45 left in the period with a goal from Cameron Rotunda. In the third period, Chippewa pulled away to secure a 7-4 victory after goals from Lincoln Mertz and Cal Vezina, who finished the night with an impressive four-goal performance.