AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Roadrunners Beat Texas Before Season-High Crowd on First Responders Night

Published on March 17, 2024 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson Roadrunners' Austin Poganski and Montana Onyebuchi celebrate win
Tucson Roadrunners' Austin Poganski and Montana Onyebuchi celebrate win
(Tucson Roadrunners, Credit: Lucas Ault, Tucson Roadrunners)

TUCSON, AZ - It was a perfect night for Arizona hockey teams as the Tucson Roadrunners defeated the Texas Stars 4-1 on Saturday night, in front of a season-high 5,967 fans, to improve to 34-19-3-2 on the year from the Tucson Arena.

The Arizona Coyotes won, the Tucson Roadrunners won, and the Tucson Fire Department defeated the Tucson Police Department 3-1 on First Responders Night completing the perfect day for hockey in Arizona.

It was the Tucson Roadrunners who started the scoring first, breaking the 0-0 tie with a goal from Forward Milos Kelemen. Kelemen scored his 14th goal of the season at the 13:55 mark as was assisted by Aku Raty and Nathan Smith. Texas would answer later in the frame and the two sides would be tied at the end of the first frame.

The second frame would feature a game-winning goal from Montana Onyebuchi of the Roadrunners. The defensemen, in his first year with the team, scored the game-winner at the 17:02 mark of the period. Austin Poganski and Patrik Koch assisted Onyebuchi on the goal. It was the only goal scored for either team in the frame. Tucson outshot Texas 9-7 in the period. Tucson held Texas to seven shots in the first and seven shots in the second. Matthew Villalta made all seven saves in the second, six of seven in the first, and all 12 in the third.

In that final frame, it was Nathan Smith scoring the first insurance goal at the 6:42 mark of the third. Smith's goal, which made the game 3-1, was assisted by Milos Kelemen and Aku Raty. Raty picked up his second assist of the night, Smith and Kelemen picked up their second point of the night, each with a goal and an assist. In the final two minutes of play, Texas would pull their goalie and give up and empty-net goal to Justin Kirkland. Kirkland was assisted by Josh Doan and the goal would give Tucson the 4-1 win.

"I think the whole team was playing really well tonight, we scored early, and it was easy to get it going after that. We need to continue to play as a team and stay confident. We have four lines of hard-working players," said Forward Aku Raty following Tucson's 4-1 win over Texas on Saturday night.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Images from this story

Tucson Roadrunners' Austin Poganski and Montana Onyebuchi celebrate win
Tucson Roadrunners' Austin Poganski and Montana Onyebuchi celebrate win
(Lucas Ault, Tucson Roadrunners)		   



American Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central