The Wranglers used great goaltending to win a 3-1 contest on Friday for a victory, then completed the sweep with a scoring barrage during a 6-3 double up win over the Grit.
It’s the first two wins for newly hired head coach Corey Wogtech as Amarillo improves to 13-14-0-2 overall with a total of 28 points. The Wranglers currently sit in sixth place in the North American League South Division.
Amarillo is back at home this coming weekend hosting Lone Star Friday night and Odessa on Saturday with the puck dropping at 7:14 p.m.
Friday’s game
The Wranglers stampeded the ice looking to transform their season after falling in three straight games the previous weekend to Corpus Christi and Odessa.
With careless penalties held to a minimum and under the watchful eye of Wogtech, Carl Jacobson – a NAHL South Division Star of the Week – found the net as he received a beautiful pass from defenseman Sal Cerrato to take a momentary lead. Cerrato leads Amarillo on the year in assists with 18.
Grit forward Lucas Mann tied this game up 1-1 going into the first intermission.
With one of the hottest scoring sticks in all of the NAHL, Wranglers forward Trace Day slapped one out of thin air to give Amarillo a 2-1 lead at the 1:14 mark of the second period, which Amarillo held going into the third period.
At the 4:49 mark of the third period, captain Morley Phillips ignited the crowd, catching a nice flip pass from defenseman Will Wellborn, and put a little icing on the victory cake to give Amarillo a 3-1 victory.
Charlie Zolin was stellar between the pipes capturing his eighth victory of the season by saving an impressive 38-of-39 shots.
Saturday’s game
The Budweiser Bullpen was electric Saturday night in anticipation of the decades-long tradition of the Teddy Bear Toss.
The Teddy Bear Toss is a charitable event by which the Amarillo Wranglers fans toss a new or gently used Teddy Bear onto the ice for various charities.
When the Wranglers score their first goal of the night in this meaningful and touching event, the Teddy Bears rain down on the ice like a West Texas hailstorm.
It took only 27 seconds (the fastest in this event’s history) for the Amarillo Wranglers to score their first goal of the night to ignite the Teddy Bear Toss in record fashion. The large and excited crowd showered the ice with Teddy Bears immediately after defenseman Sal Cerrato scored one of his most meaningful, and his ninth goal, putting Amarillo up 1-0.
A record amount of Teddy Bears filled the Street Toyota Amarillo Wranglers Tundra sitting on the ice collecting these beautiful gifts, so much so that the Jason Chafe’s State Farm Ford Bronco had to be used to collect what would not fit in the Wranglers’ Toyota Tundra.
The Amarillo hockey fans engulfed in the Christmas spirit outdid themselves with their Teddy Bear generosity. This was an amazing site to behold, and it filled the Cal Farley Colosseum with a loving and giving Christmas spirit.
The Colorado Grit worked hard to make a playoff run and tied this game up at the 4:39 mark of the first period 1-1. Amarillo scoring leader Corson McGuire took a bullet pass from linemate Carl Jacobson giving Amarillo a 2-1 lead.
The Grit hustled one past Amarillo goalie Zolin, tying this game up going into the first intermission.
The second period saw some amazing defensive play by both squads as the “Wogtech Effect” was in full swing.
Penalty minutes were limited to the first period for the Amarillo Wranglers, with a season low total of four minutes of penalties in this game.
With just three minutes left in the second period, Amarillo added to its lead when fan favorite Jacob Miller scored his goal of the year as the Wranglers were now up 3-1.
Colorado made it interesting toward the end of the second period as they scored a cumbersome goal with just a minute left in the period. Amarillo skated into the locker room at the second intermission with a 3-2 lead.
With a solid, defensive effort, strong goalie plays and a non-existent penalty strategy, Amarillo added to its lead when Trace Day scored his second goal of the weekend and his 14th goal of the season, giving Amarillo a 4-2 lead in the third period.
Amarillo fans watched as Colorado head coach Kevin Holmstorm pulled his goalie with a little over three minutes left in the game. Smelling blood in the water, Amarillo scoring leader Corson McGuire started the empty net extravaganza by hitting the back of the net at the 18:15 mark of the third period.
Not to be outdone team captain Morley Phillips ended the game, as the puck made its way across the scoring line, giving Amarillo a 6-3 victory.
The Wranglers were able to accumulate a season high nine goals for the weekend whilst goalie Charlie Zolin recaptured that early season swagger, saving 22-of-25 shots to garner his ninth victory of the season.
Alumni Update
I recently attended a Division I college hockey game between the Air Force Academy and Niagara University at the beautiful Cadet Ice Arena on the campus of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Amarillo contingency was on full display this Friday night. Led by former Amarillo Wrangler and part of the most prolific scoring lines in Amarillo Wranglers history, Latvia native Glebs Prohorenkovs was the war horse of the Niagara Purple Eagles, as they won this thriller of a game in overtime 3-2.
Prohorenkovs is a sports management major with pre-law minor. This game is known as the “Battle of the Birds“(Air Force Falcons vs Niagara Purple Eagles).
Air Force goalie and former Amarillo Wrangler Carter Clafton, who is a management major and is on the Athletics Directors list as a freshman, represented the Falcons quite nicely this evening.
Former Amarillo Bull Noah Carlin, who played in 96 games, scored 13 goals and had 26 assists for the Bulls. As a marketing major at Niagara University, Carlin has seen a lot of playing time and has played a major role in Niagara’s success.
Amarillo has seen its disproportionate share of Division I college hockey players play and we will continue to monitor the growth and the progression of our proud Amarillo alumni.
Editor’s Note
Please listen for Tommy Tee‘s weekly recap of the Amarillo Wranglers hockey on the “Drive at Five” with Lance Lahnert every Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. exclusively on 102.9 FM the Panhandle Sports Star