Weekly Mid-West Division Recap (10/1 - 10/4)

Oklahoma City Jr. Blazers @ Wichita Jr. Thunder

10.02.15 – Oklahoma City 5, Wichita 2

10.03.15 – Oklahoma City 5, Wichita 1

10.04.15 – Wichita 8, Oklahoma City 4

The Oklahoma City Jr. Blazers won the first two games of this series, but Wichita fought back with a win on Sunday to avoid a sweep at the hands of their division rivals.

The Jr. Blazers opened up a 3-0 lead in the first period, withstood a push back by the Jr. Thunder in a 5-2 season-opening win for OKC.

Five different skaters scored for Oklahoma City and Filip Kosta handled things in net.

Jet Bell and Joel Johnson scored 2:30 apart early in the second period to get Wichita within a goal, but Oklahoma City responded.  Dominik Taras’ goal with nine seconds left in the frame was a back-breaker, restoring a three-goal lead for the Blazers heading into the locker room.  The third period was scoreless.

The Jr. Blazers kept it going on Saturday with a 5-1 win.  Tomas Rubes scored two goals and added an assist, Tomas Nemeth (1-2-3), also contributed three points, and Kostka made 33 saves.

Erik Spath was busy in the Wichita net, making 53 saves to keep the Jr. Thunder in the game as long as he could.  Jack McClelland scored Wichita’s goal. 

OKC took a 4-0 lead in Sunday’s matinee, but the Jr. Thunder got the wakeup call and their offense came to life with four goals in both the second and third periods for an 8-4 win.

McClennand (2-2-4) and Bell (2-1-3) led the comeback and Spath made 69 saves – including stopping all 26 shots he faced in the third period – as the Jr. Blazers attempted to get the game back.

Four different skaters scored goals for the Jr. Blazers and Braden Lajoie made 45 saves.

Tula Jr. Oilers @ Casper Coyotes

10.02.15 – Casper 5, Tulsa 2

10.03.15 – Casper 8, Tulsa 3 

10.04.15 – Tulsa 8, Casper 2

Casper, winners of their first five games of the season, looked like they were on their way to another sweep when Tulsa handed them their first loss of the season on Sunday.

The visiting Jr. Oilers led, 2-0, after the first period Friday evening, but the Coyotes came back hard in front of their home crowd for a 5-2 win.  Joshua Arnold and Erik Stenbacka scored two goals apiece and veteran Rickard Landfeldt made 36 saves for Casper.

Stenbecka added a hat trick, and Viktor Thim produced four assists, as the Coyotes kept rolling with an 8-3 win on Saturday.  Maxim Chegrintcev scored all three Tulsa goals.

Sunday’s game was tied, 2-2 in the second period, but Tulsa scored the last six goals of the Game for an 8-2 win.  Chegrintcev scored another hat trick and Sam Mancini picked up five points (2-3-5).  Richard Albrecht and Tyler Jansen combined for 54 saves in the Jr. Oilers net.

Springfield Express @ Dallas Snipers

10.02.15 – Springfield 7, Dallas 1

10.03.15 – Springfield 7, Dallas 6 (OT)

10.04.15 – Dallas 8, Springfield 6

The Springfield Express won the series opener going away, but they split the next two games with the Dallas Snipers.  Both games were wide open and could have gone either way – including an overtime contest on Saturday night.

The two wins helped Springfield extend their lead atop the Mid-Western Division of the WSHL.

Dallas opened the scoring Friday in their home opener at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Plano, TX, but that was all of the offense they produced in a 7-1 loss to the visiting Express.

Tyson Klingspohn scored three times and added an assist for the Express.  Filip Jansson had two goals and an assist and Linus Dahlberg assisted on four goals.  Nicholas Bretzger made 33 saves on 34 shots for Springfield.

The Express led, 2-0, after the first period on Saturday, but the Snipers came charging back to take a 4-2 lead by the second intermission.

Sterling Cooper’s second goal of the game, at 9:19 of the third period, gave Dallas a 6-4 lead, but Springfield scored two goals in the final 1:27 of regulation to force overtime.  Klingspohn’s second tally of the night came with 1:03 left and tied the game, 6-6.

Dixon Whitehead scored the winning goal with 28 seconds left in the first OT.

Bretzger made 24 saves for Springfield while Alexander Pihl turned aside 32 for Dallas. 

Dahlberg netted a hat trick on Sunday, but the Express was unable to complete the sweep as the Snipers out-scored them, 8-6, for their first win of the season.  

Dusan Olsa scored two goals in the third period for Dallas and Daniel Nordlander and Michael Tugo also scored twice for the Snipers.

Michael Crawford had three assists in the game for Springfield.

Alexander Moustakis (34 saves) was the winning goaltender over Daniel Lee (24 saves).

El Paso had the weekend off.