The Wranglers were able to garner four out of six points against non-South Division opponents picking up wins over Maryland and New Hampshire. Amarillo is now 6-1-0 on the early year and sit atop the NAHL South Division.
All NAHL teams participated with the inclusion of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program aka TEAM USA. This tournament played host to over 300 college scouts and even NHL scouts.
Thursday’s game
The Amarillo Wranglers rode into Blaine with a four-game winning streak to play the Maryland Back Bears (Eastern Division).
This was the first ever meeting between these two teams as the Wranglers handed the Black Bears, a NAHL Robertson Cup finalist team from a year ago, their first loss of the year with a 2-1 victory.
At the 13:38 mark of the first period, Black Bear defenseman sniped a shot from the blue line hitting the five hole, giving Maryland an early 1-0 lead.
Amarillo goalie Charlie Zolin and double NAHL Southern Division Star of the Week winner found his rhythm as this game turned into a defensive struggle. Maryland held on to the 1–0 lead into the first intermission.
Defense was the name of the game throughout the second period when, at the 5:18 mark of the second period Amarillo’s Aidan Dres backhanded the unassisted shot to tie up this defensive clinic at the end of the second frame.
In front of a very large crowd at the Super Rink and a much larger playing surface, this game was knotted up, 1-1.
With less than 14 seconds left in regulation, Wranglers winger and Canadian native Corson Maguire took an unexpected blue line shot and went top shelf to give the Wranglers their first advantage at 2-1.
The Wranglers were able to hold on and win this very exciting matchup, as “the cobra” Charlie Zolin swatted 31-of-32 shots, giving him his fifth victory of the season. Zolin is the fourth ranked goalie in the NAHL.
Friday’s game
With a crowd filled with college scouts, the Amarillo Wranglers took the ice as head coach Taylor Harnett used this opportunity to evaluate talent and rested one of the hottest goalies in all of hockey.
It was another successful outing as Amarillo defeated New Hampshire 4-1.
Wrangler goalie William Lubimov made his NAHL debut between the pipes against the New Hampshire Mountain Kings.
Amarillo’s newly acquired defenseman Salvatore Cerrato, the most offensive-defenseman in all of the NAHL, picked up his second goal of the season as he went top shelf to give Amarillo the early lead.
Cerrato earned the NAHL South Division 2nd Star of the week.
Amarillo forward Corson Maguire scored his second goal in his many days. Amarillo had a 2-0 lead at the end of the first frame. Wranglers’ Cerrato and Trace Day scored in the second period to give Amarillo a 4-0 lead going into the final intermission.
New Hampshire did get a power-play goal at the 3:54 mark of the third period, to no avail as the Wranglers went on to win their sixth straight game and second straight victory in the 21st annual NAHL Showcase.
Saturday’s game
With an early morning start and both teams playing their third game in three days, the Amarillo Wranglers hit the ice against a very good Fairbanks Ice Dogs.
This didn’t go the Wranglers way with Amarillo suffering its first loss on the season, 4-2.
At the 12:47 mark of the first period, Wranglers Noah Wood scored his first NAHL goal, giving Amarillo a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission. The Ice Dogs tiee it up when forward Adam Timm slipped one by yet another new goalie for Amarillo, Charles Antoine Girard.
Later in the second period Amarillo defenseman and Latvia native Emils Skeltins scored an unassisted goal and his first NAHL goal, giving Amarillo a 2 -1 ladvantage going into the second intermission.
Amarillo goalie Charlie Zolin had the day off and sat in the booth for the NAHLtv stream. While speaking with a very articulate and descriptive play-by-play announcer for the Wranglers Guy Chiarenza, Zolin gave a lot of credit to his defensive core for his great start.
“These guys give up their body play after play,” Zolin said. “Shot after shot to stop the puck from entering my zone. I’m grateful for this defensive group.”
The Ice Dogs scores three times in the third period to pull away for the victory.
Amarillo goalie Girard fell in his NAHL debut but did stop 43-of-46 shots.
What’s Next
The Amarillo road show continues taking the five-hour bus ride to North Richland Hills to battle division rival Lone Star at the NYTEX Sports Centre on Friday and Saturday.
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.