Closing Strong: Final Day Recap from Rochester

Action hit another level on the final day of the T1ER Central NAHL Experience Weekend at the Rochester Ice Center, as 16U and 18U teams closed out the weekend. A huge thank you to the Rochester Jr. Americans staff for welcoming the T1ER League into their building and helping make the weekend a success. Here are a few matchups that caught our attention on the final day. Click here to see all the results.
 

18U:

The Philadelphia Jr. Flyers defeated the Cleveland Barons 5-1 on Sunday. Philadelphia opened the scoring in the first period with a power-play goal from Tyler Brown, assisted by Brody Matthews. Cleveland tied the game in the second period with a shorthanded goal from Cal Basile, assisted by Christopher Lundie. Philadelphia responded with a power-play goal from Noah Westermann, assisted by Cole Gargon and Samuel Norton. The Jr. Flyers added another goal later in the period as Ryan Nichols scored, assisted by Tyler Brown, to take a 3-1 lead. In the third period, Ryan Nichols scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Logan Brown. Samuel Norton added the final goal of the game unassisted. Philadelphia outshot Cleveland 27-12 and finished the event with a 2-1 record. 

The Pittsburgh Stars defeated the Ohio Prospects 3-2 in overtime to cap off the weekend. Ohio opened the scoring in the second period with goals from Daniel Jankula, assisted by Jagger Dalton and Jacob White, assisted by Wyatt Frank, giving the Prospects a 2-0 lead. Pittsburgh answered in the third period with goals from Carter Cohoon, assisted by Zackary Meneely and Joey Mains, and Zakhar Brydin, assisted by Tal Bondar. Brydin’s goal came on the power play to tie the game, giving fans some extra hockey. In overtime, Zakhar Brydin scored the game-winning goal on the powerplay, assisted by Artem Blinov, to secure the win for Pittsburgh.

16U:

After suffering a 3-2 loss against the Long Island Arrows 16U on the previous day, the Indiana Elite bounced back in a 4-1 win against the Valley Forge Minutemen on Sunday. In the first period, Indiana forward Braden Rubin scored the only goal of the period at 3:39. In the second period, Indian forward Ryan Mattio extended the Elite’s lead with a goal at 2:50. Valley Forge forward Trey Bergstrasser scored a goal on the power play at 1:59 to get his team within one. In the third period, Indiana would score the only two goals with the first being on the penalty kill by forward Esai Rasando at 10:01 and the second from forward Tristan Nigmedyanov at 2:18. Emerson Rossman started between the pipes for Indiana and made 14 saves on 15 shots. Nathan Napolitano started in net for the Minutemen and made 27 saves on 31 shots. 

After getting shut out against BK Selects 4-0 the previous day, the Pittsburgh Stars bounced back with a 4-0 shutout of their own against the South Hills Panthers on Sunday. Pittsburgh forward RJ Norkus scored the lone goal of the first period at 16:40. Neither team was able to score in the second. In the third period, Norkus scored his second of the game at 13:31. His teammates, forwards Mikita Lahodka and Maksim Popienko, scored on the penalty kill and power play at 8:19 and 5:36, respectively. Reese Myers blanked the Panthers by making saves on all 21 shots. Mathew Gilchrist started in net for South hills and made 31 saves on 35 shots.