Tornado top Bulls in regular season finale, 3-1
March 26, 2011 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Texas Tornado News Release
Behind 38 saves from goaltender Jimmy Kruger, the Texas Tornado won their regular season finale on Saturday night with a 3-1 in Amarillo against the Bulls. JD Howard, Tyler Rostenkowski and Mico Solorzano scored in the win for Texas, who went 6-0-2 in their final eight regular season games.
With their top three leading scorers Jack Prince, Jackson Leef and Ralfs Freibergs out of the line-up for the night, resting for the playoffs, the Texas Tornado were able to withstand a furious attack by the Amarillo Bulls to start the game. Tornado goaltender Jimmy Kruger was under attack from the start, but after Amarillo found the post twice and some big saves from Kruger, the Tornado settled down. Although they did not score on the power play, the Tornado offense started to get some shots on Amarillo goaltender Nikifor Szczerba late in the period. After a game misconduct on the Bulls Eric Millisor for elbowing Nate Sliwinski, the Tornado offense got going, ultimately scoring in the last minute of the period as Sliwinski chipped the puck to an open JD Howard, who raced in on a breakaway and beat Szczerba with a backhand.
Despite being outshot 13-6 in the 2nd period, it was the Tornado who increased the lead. The Tornado made it 2-0 as Tyler Rostenkowski's shot from the point went wide, but the rebound came off the end boards and off of Szczerba's leg and into the back of the net. Assists on the goal went to Justin Jones and Jimmy Murray. Just :27 seconds later a nice passing play from Mike Fleming to Brett Hebel saw Hebel come down the left wing and lay a pass to an open Mico Solorzano, who fired a shot past the glove of Szczerba for a 3-0 lead. The rest of the period was the Jimmy Kruger show as the Tornado goaltender stifled the Bulls time after time, clearly showing he was in playoff form.
The 3rd period was all Jimmy Kruger, as he again shut the door on the Bulls time after time. Amarillo managed to get on the board with less than seven minutes remaining, as TJ Sarcona got loose in front of the net to rattle a loose puck home. But, it wouldn't be enough as the Tornado won the regular season finale, 3-1. Kruger was the game's first star, stopping 38 of 29 Bulls shots.
The Tornado finished the regular season tied with the Amarillo Bulls for 2nd place in the South Division, each with 78 points. However, Amarillo had 36 wins to the Tornado's 35, thus winning the tie-breaker. The Tornado and the Bulls now will face one another in the best of five South Division Semi-Finals series beginning with Game #1 in Amarillo on Thursday, March 31st at 7:00pm.
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