Wildcats Hang on for Second Consecutive Sweep of RoadRunners

March 26, 2016 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wichita Falls Wildcats News Release


A three-minute surge of goals in the second period made the difference on Saturday night, as the Wildcats skated to a 3-2 victory of the Topeka RoadRunners to extend their home winning streak to 14 games.

Saturday night's first period might have been a season-low for shots on goal for the Wildcats, who managed just five. Topeka's highly touted goaltender Tyler Johnson was hardly tested, while Kapelmaster had a busy first 20 minutes. His stats were identical to Friday night's first frame, as he stopped all 12 RoadRunner shots which were thrown his direction.

The second period was arguably the strangest of the entire season. Austin Albrecht tipped a shot taken from Jonny Lazarus past Johnson on a Wildcat power play to finally open the scoring. On the very next shift, Luka Maver was set up in the right circle and hammered a shot past Kapelmaster to tie the game.

A minute and nine seconds after Topeka responded, Noah Gilreath kept the puck alive at the RoadRunners' blue line when virtually everyone in the building thought it had crossed the line and would be ruled offside. However, the referee kept his whistle silent and Gilreath spun the puck to Albrecht, who was left utterly uncontested in front of the Topeka net. He utilized his time to his advantage, got Johnson down, and buried the shot for his second goal of the game and his team-leading 55th point.

The RoadRunners responded to the controversial play by abusing the officials to the point of two minor penalties and an ejection of Assistant Coach and General Manager Joe Clark. On the ensuing 5-on-3 power play, Jeff Baum unloaded from the top of the right circle, and his shot was tipped home by André Pison for the Dane's ninth of the season. Later on in the period, Adam Goodsir dropped the gloves with Shawn Brennan for his first fight of the season, which he won by feeding punch after punch to Brennan before hauling him down to the ice.

Shades of the first period crept back into the hockey game in the final 20 minutes. The Runners put the Cats on their heels and Marcus Russell buried a rebound shot past Kapelmaster's right pad at the end of a Topeka power play. They outshot Wichita Falls 13-4 in the final frame, but Kapelmaster valiantly defended the pipes en route to a Kona Ice Second Star of the Game performance.

Kapelmaster made 31 of a possible 33 saves for his league-leading 32nd victory. Johnson was charged with his 12th regulation defeat, stopping 17 of 20. The Wildcats travel to Corpus Christi to take on the IceRays on Friday, April 1st.



North American Hockey League Stories from March 26, 2016


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