Romzek's Hat Trick Boosts Ice Miners over Ice Dogs
February 21, 2015 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Keystone Ice Miners News Release
FAIRBANKS, AK - Austin Romzek scored three goals in a row to turn a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 Ice Miners lead in an eventual 5-2 Keystone win over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Friday night in Alaska. The win snapped a three game losing streak for the Ice Miners and was the first of a nine game road swing.
Neither team scored in the first period, a common occurance this season for the Ice Miners. The action quickly picked up in the second period when Jon Hall scored a powerplay goal just 10 seconds in after Fairbanks goaltender Patrick Munson misplayed the puck behind the net. Taylor Fernandez and Jacob Coleman picked up assists. It only took 1:02 for the Ice Dogs to even the score as they got a powerplay chance of their own and Hans Gorowsky set up Lonnie Clary. Ethan Somoza also added an assist. In the second half of the period, Romzek got his first when Alex Blankenburg caught Fairbanks changing and led Coleman and Romzek on a two-on-nothing break. Coleman set up Romzek to make it 2-1 Ice Miners. Romzek struck again 1:28 later when Keystone got another odd-man rush and he shot one past Munson which a helper from Michael Maiden. Keystone led 3-1 after two periods.
Romzek completed the hat trick 1:49 into the third ripping a shot from the right wing past Munson, after taking a Matt Jones feed. The hat trick was the first of the season for the Ice Miners and brought Romzek's goal total to 12. Fairbanks pulled their goaltender with about four minutes remaining and Noah Batis cashed in on the empty net at 16:19 to put the game away. Jon Hall added another point with an assist. Josef Ingman scored with 14 seconds remaining to bring the game to a 5-2 final score. Alex Blankenburg' made 28 saves for his 13th win.
The Ice Miners have a chance to take three of four from Fairbanks in the season series on Saturday night at 11:30 PM ET. Once again, the game will be broadcast via the home feed only on FASTHockey.com. Fans can also follow @keystoneminers on Twitter for live updates. The Janesville Jets clinched the North Division regular season title with a 2-0 win over Springfield last night. Keystone remains in 2nd place, two points up on the Soo Eagles, who also won last night.
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