Sports stats



AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Season-High Crowd Sees Season-High 5th-Straight Roadrunners' Win

December 31, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard and Austin Pogansk on game night
Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard and Austin Pogansk on game night
(Tucson Roadrunners, Credit: Kate Dibildox, Tucson Roadrunners)

TUCSON, AZ - If every one of the 6,087 Roadrunners fans in attendance counted the fingers on one of their hands it would equal the number of Tucson wins in a row as the Roadrunners defeated San Diego 3-2 to improve to 19-8-1-1 on the year Saturday night at Tucson Arena.

San Diego came out firing on Saturday night at the Tucson Arena. They scored twice in the period and had the 6,000+ Roadrunner fans quiet for the first twenty minutes. Roadrunners goalie Dylan Wells had some great saves on the two San Diego power-plays Tucson faced in the period and kept Tucson in it early.

The second period would be a different story for the good guys in white as Tucson would add two goals of their own. The first would come on a power-play at the 14:02 mark. Dylan Guenther would create a breakaway chance for himself and bury the shot to bring Tucson within one. Justin Kirkland and Max Szuber picked up assists on the play. The two sides would battle it out in a 2-1 game until the Roadrunners would tie things up at the 19:34 mark. Aku Raty would light the lamp and the Tucson faithful would erupt. Dylan Guenther and Cam Crotty assisted Raty. Guenther picked up his team-leading 18th assist and added to his points total of 28 (10 goals, 18 assisted) in 28 games played.

The final 20 minutes would be controlled by Tucson as they outshot San Diego 8-4 and had the puck in San Diego's zone for most of the period. An interference minor on San Diego would put the Roadrunners on the power-play with the chance to take their first lead of the night. They did just that as John Leonard would dive after a rebound and put it in the back of the net. Leonard's game-winning goal was assisted by Milos Kelemen and Aku Raty. Leonard has three goals in his last three games. Tucson would hang on to the one-goal lead for the remainder of the period and secure the fifth-straight win for the team.

"It starts with goaltending, Matty (Villalta) and (Dylan) Wellsy have both been unbelievable for us. Everyone is always looking for different ways to improve and two wins on the weekend is always a good thing." said Forward John Leonard after Tucson's 3-2 win on Saturday night and fifth straight victory.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics




Images from this story

Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard and Austin Pogansk on game night
Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard and Austin Pogansk on game night
(Kate Dibildox, Tucson Roadrunners)		   



American Hockey League Stories from December 31, 2023


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