'Runners win streak climbs to six
December 11, 2006 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Topeka Pilots News Release
[Wichita Falls, TX] - The Santa Fe Roadrunners continued their hot streak, completing a 3-game weekend sweep of the Wildcats in Wichita Falls.
The series began on Thursday evening, and as expected, the Wildcats came out on fire, scoring the first goal of the contest just 1:26 into the game. Santa Fe battled back to take the lead on goals by Ben Kinne (St. Paul, MN) and Jake Hutt (Menlo Park, CA), and held a 2-1 lead through 1. The second period saw Wichita Falls tie the game on a power play goal, the only goal of the period. In the third, a blue collar goal by veteran forward Brett Coley (Sterling Heights, MI) gave Santa Fe a 3-2 edge, but the Wildcats pounced on a turnover and scored a breakaway goal to tie the game at 3-3. After a scoreless overtime period, Santa Fe scored on 3 of 5 shots in the shootout while goalie Nick Hopper (Culver City, CA) allowed just 1 in 4 shots, and the Roadrunners claimed the 4-3 win.
On Friday, the Wildcats were just as fired up coming out, and again drew first blood, a powerplay goal late in the first. It only took :13 seconds for the Roadrunners to tie it back up, as defenseman Tommy Hill (Portage, MI) scored from the blue line. Tied at 1-1 after one, the Roadrunners again took a 2-1 lead on a rebound goal by Ben Kinne. Once again, the Wildcats tied it up at 2-2, but Santa Fe retook the lead shortly afterward, with Josh Kamrass (Atlanta, GA) drove home a powerplay rebound for the 3-2 lead late in the second. The lead would hold, as the Roadrunners eked out their second hard fought win in as many nights. Bryce Merriam (Pittsburgh, PA) posted his 3rd win since joining Santa Fe, and still sports a GAA below 1.000.
Saturday night, Nick Hopper went back to work, and all he did was post his league leading sixth shutout of the year, as Santa Fe earned a 2-0 win, on a first period goal by newcomer Jay Fifield (Eden Prarie, MN) and a second period goal by Tibor Kutalek (Skilica, Slovakia). Hopper turned aside a penalty shot in the 2nd period, along with 24 other shots for the shutout.
The weekend sweep moves Santa Fe back into a first place tie with St. Louis, who has dropped 3 straight. The Roadrunners will head north to Alaska for a 5 game swing, with 3 games in Fairbanks and two in Wasilla against the Alaska Avalanche. Santa Fe is 4-1-1 in games played IN Alaska in the last two seasons, and 7-1-2 vs the two Alaskan opponents so far this season, with all of this years games to date played in New Mexico. All the same, head coach Scott Langer expects the games up north to be a battle every night. "Fairbanks has such a great tradition there. The fans are incredible, and Proff (Ice Dogs coach Rob Proffitt) is going to have his guys ready to go. We can't just show up and expect to have success, we'll have to really be sharp. And the Avalanche are a team that plays a lot differently at home than they do on the road. We've got 5 games in 6 days up there. It's a great test for us, and the guys are looking forward to it".
FOR THE RECORD: The Roadrunners current six-game win streak is the longest in franchise history. (***) Ben Kinne saw his 9-game point streak end on Saturday night. 9 games is the season team record. (***) The game winning goal by Josh Kamrass on Friday was the teams 100th goal of the season. (***) The Santa Fe Roadrunners posted a total of 5 shutout wins in their first two seasons in New Mexico combined. This season, only 27 games into the year, Nick Hopper and Bryce Merriam have combined for 7 shutouts. (***)
North American Hockey League Stories from December 11, 2006
- Alpena returns home Wednesday - Alpena IceDiggers
- 'Runners win streak climbs to six - Topeka Pilots
- Wildcats Battle with Roadrunners - Wichita Falls Wildcats
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