Amarillo was able to snap a four-game losing skid during this weekend series.
The Wranglers lost Friday night’s game 5-1, however, came back strong with an exciting come-from-behind victory of 3-2 Saturday night, ending their losing streak and their long-successful opening away schedule.
Amarillo currently is in third place in the North American Hockey League’s South Division at 7–3–0–1, with 15 points, three points behind defending NAHL Robertson Cup Champions Lone Star Brahmas, as the Corpus Christi IceRays the South with a total of 19 points.
Following this 11-game road stretch to start the year, Amarillo comes back to the Budweiser Bullpen this weekend for a much-welcomed home opening series.
The Wranglers organization traveled 5,465 miles on a bus, broke down twice, booked 320 hotel rooms, served over 1,580 meals, spent over 100 hours on a bus, and played almost 11 and a half hours of quality hockey over that stretch.
The Wranglers play host to the Colorado Grit in their home opener Friday night at the Budweiser Bullpen with the puck dropping at 7:14 p.m. Amarillo will host the Grit for three games, ending in a special 3 p.m. start time Sunday.
Friday’s Game
Friday night saw a road-weary Wranglers team hit the ice as Wrangler goalie Charles Antone Girard got the surprising start between the pipes.
The Mud Bugs took an early lead at the four-minute mark of the first period when Kyan Haldenby started the scoring bonanza for the Mud Bugs. Amarillo briefly tied this game up when defenseman Salvatore Cerrato hit a wide-open Corson Maguire as he was able to slip one past Mud Bug goalie Aden Gariepy.
Maguire leads the Wranglers with five goals, with a total of 12 points. Unfortunately, this was all the Wranglers scoring they could muster in this game as the Mud Bugs would go on to score 4 unanswered goals.
Amarillo goalie Girard was pelted with 39 shots, stopping 34 as Amarillo answered with a challenging 28 shot effort.
Saturday’s Game
The Wranglers hit the ice with a vengeance, undeterred by the previous night’s cumbersome performance.
The Mud Bugs scored first against September’s NAHL Goalie of the Month Charlie Zolin, giving the Mud Bugs an early 1-0 lead. The Mud Bugs scored again at the 8:55 mark of the first period, giving the Mud Bugs a 2-0 lead.
Gerhard Grayson took matters into his own hands as he scored his second goal of the season to ignite and shift the momentum to the Wranglers offense. The first period ended at 2-1. The moment the Wranglers hit the ice for the second period, it was easy to tell there was a new sheriff in town.
At the 5:45 mark, Jacob Miller found the back of the yellow net, tying this epic NAHL South Division game up. Penalty minutes were rare in this nailbiter as both teams minded their P’s & Q’s as this game remained tied going into the second intermission.
This was a defensive battle with a lot of up-and-down hockey play against two teams that do not care for one another. With an extremely loud and exuberant crowd on their feet, Wranglers Andrew Morton hustled one from linemate and Wranglers leading scorer Corson Maguire to hit the back of the net and give Amarillo a 3-2 lead, his first game winning goal in the NAHL.
This win allowed Amarillo to snap a four-game losing skid as Zolin got the win stopping 34-of-36 shots.
Editor’s Note
Please listen for Tommy Tee‘s weekly recap of the Amarillo Wranglers hockey on the “Drive at Five” with Lance Lahnert every Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. exclusively on 102.9 FM the Panhandle Sports Star.
