Tornado stave off Port Huron for 5-4 win
May 4, 2012 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Texas Tornado News Release
After giving up two goals in the opening six minutes of play, the Texas Tornado found themselves somewhat behind the eight-ball against the Port Huron Fighting Falcons on Friday in Day Two of the Roberson Cup. But the Tornado rebounded and picked up a 5-4 victory as Jackson Leef scored twice and was joined in the goal column by Drew Allen, Mico Solorzano, and Jordan Lovick. Hunter Leisner made his second straight start in goal and picked up the victory for Texas. The Tornado outshot the Fighting Falcons 34-19 en route to their first victory of the 2012 Robertson Cup.
Both teams got on the board early and often, with Texas and Port Huron combining for six goals in the first period. The Fighting Falcons scored the first two goals of the game in the opening 5:33 of the play on goals from both Brett D'Andrea and Mike Moroso. D'Andrea's goal after Ian Miller made a cross-ice pass that D'Andrea one-timed past Leisner for the opening goal of the game. Just over two minutes later, Moroso received a pass from Logan Lemirande after Lemirande managed to elude a pair of Tornado checks. He sent the puck out in front and Moroso redirected it past Leisner to make it a 2-0 game.
The Tornado responded with three unanswered goals, two of which came within 21 seconds of each other. Allen's goal came after John Kirtland took a slapshot that was stopped by Fighting Falcons goaltender Max Milosek. The save produced a rebound, which Allen jumped on to put past Milosek, and cut the Port Huron lead in half. On the very next shift, Kirtland took another slapshot from the point. This one was deflected beautifully past Milosek by Solorzano and the Tornado tied the score at two.
At 16:08 of the opening period and the Tornado on a power-play, Leef picked up his first goal of the night. From the half-boards, he skated the puck to the blue line and unleashed a wrist shot that managed to sneak its way through and beat Milosek and give the Tornado the lead. But just a minute and a half later, Port Huron had a two-man advantage and Nolan Valleau hammered a slapshot past Leisner to once again tie the score. The first period also featured a fight between Lemirande and Skyler Spiller, which resulted in Lemirande receiving a 10-minute misconduct after throwing a glove at Spiller following the fight.
With the score tied still tied at three in the second period, the native of Fort Wayne, Ind. struck again. Lovick took the puck behind the net, bounced off a check and created some space to find Leef with a centering pass. He took the puck and rifled it home as the Tornado regained their one-goal lead. Later in the second, Lovick added a goal of his own after taking the puck in the high slot, spinning, and shooting a wrist shot past Milosek. Lovick's goal gave the Tornado a 5-3 lead, which they took into the third period
Port Huron drew to within one after Lemirande stripped Alex Temby in the Tornado zone, drove towards the net and slipped the puck past Leisner, but the Fighting Falcons were not able to score again. With less than a minute to go, Port Huron's Rick DeRosa was whistled for holding, which did not allow them to pull their goalie. Instead, the Tornado skated out the final 38 seconds and came away with the win.
The Tornado win means that all six Robertson Cup teams will go into the final day of pool play with a 1-1 record. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals, unless all three teams from one pool win on Saturday. Should that happen, all three victorious teams will advance to Monday's semifinal round while the fourth team will be the 1-2 team with the best goal differential. The Tornado will know exactly what they need to advance when they play the final Robertson Cup pool play game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the St. Louis Bandits.
North American Hockey League Stories from May 4, 2012
- Tornado stave off Port Huron for 5-4 win - Texas Tornado
- Bulls Fall to Fairbanks 3-1 Record Goes to 1-1 - Amarillo Bulls
- Third Period Surge Spurts Bobcats to Huge Win - Bismarck Bobcats
- Greg Gibson's Goal Lifts Bulls Past Texas in OT - Amarillo Bulls
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