Win Streak Ends At Five As Runners Fall In Springfield
February 11, 2012 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Topeka Pilots News Release
The Topeka RoadRunners began a six game road swing on a sour note as they lost a 5-2 decision in Springfield on Friday night.
The Jr. Blues took the 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Josef Pontasch at 16:31 of the first period on a netfront scramble with assists going to Kyle Cook and Cody Dixon, and Springfield held that lead into the first intermission. Topeka dominated the second period, outshooting the Jr. Blues 19-8, and used a pair of power play goals to take a 2-1 lead. Ryan White snapped home the tying goal at 9:10 after Kevin Patterson fired a shot that Dan Dupell gathered in and tried to wrap around before White finished it off. Patterson added a power play goal of his own at 16:25, firing home a rebound from the left faceoff circle, assisted by Sean Gaffney and Joe Van Antwerp. The RoadRunners lead disappeared less than a minute later when a Gavin Tufte shot clipped Peter Traber's shoulder and flew just under the crossbar at 17:11 and the game was tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes.
In the third period, Topeka did a good job of maintaining pressure but the bounces went Springfield's way, as they took a 3-2 lead on a pass that deflected off a RoadRunner stick and changed direction into the net at 11:11. Kevin Walters scored on a shot from the blue line at 13:51 and the Jr. Blues added an empty netter at 18:39 for the final 5-2 margin.
Topeka (30-13-2) and Springfield (20-21-2) meet for the final time this season on Saturday at 7:05. Live coverage with Arch Ecker begins at 6:45 pm with free streaming audio exclusively on countrylegends1069.com.
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