The Amarillo Wranglers played host to the Oklahoma Warriors in a two-game series this past weekend at the Budweiser Bullpen. Amarillo won Friday night’s game in an exciting shootout event 5-4, but fell 6-4 to the Warriors on Saturday night.

Amarillo (20-31-2-2, 41 points) has been eliminated from the 2025-2026 playoffs with four games left in the regular season.

The Wranglers have also wrapped up the home schedule for the year and will hit the road for the final four games over the next two weeks. Amarillo will play Shreveport this weekend and then end the regular season at Lone Star.

Friday’s game

The Warriors struck first when AJ Iwinski scored his fifth goal of the season at the 13:26 mark giving the Warriors the early lead. Amarillo forward and Tufts University commit Jake “The Snake” Boulanger took a drop pass in front of the net from linemate Kirill Evstigneev and found the back of the net, tying this game up 1–1. The score remain tied going into the first break.

Amarillo defenseman Cru Smith scored his fourth goal of the season by taking a clean shot from the top of the circle, giving Amarillo the 2-1 lead within the first 30 seconds of the start of the second period. The hot stick of Jake Boulanger then helped The Snake get his 13th goal of the season in a power-play as he was officially on Hattrick watch, giving Amarillo a 3–1 lead.

Former Wrangler and major contributor to the Oklahoma Warriors Trace Day scored an unassisted goal at the 5:24 mark, cutting the lead to 3–2. With just one second left in the second period, Warrior forward Joey DeRosa somehow got the puck past Amarillo goalie Casimir Weckstrom for his first NAHL career shorthanded goal, which tied this game up going into the final intermission

With a crowded house and a team desperately trying to keep its slim playoff hopes alive, Amarillo‘s Jake Boulanger got his hat trick (his first in the NAHL) and gave Amarillo a one goal lead at the 14:00 minute mark of the final period. In what can only be described as a bizarre call, Wrangler Max Bennett was a little early on the ice in a shift change and was called for “too many players on the ice,” a two minute minor that put the Warriors into a power-play. Forty seconds into that power-play, Warriors Joey DeRosa scored his second goal of the evening, tying this game up. This game remained tied and overtime was needed to settle this highly contested hockey game.

The overtime period provided no scoring for either team as both goalies played ”lights out” in the five minute, three-on-three overtime period and a shootout was necessary to end this game. Both teams had three opportunities, when the young Swede Alfons gentler took the ice and was able to end this in the third round of the shootout, spiking the puck passed a very good Warriors goalie Billy Stuski, giving Amarillo the 5-4 victory in a shootout.

Casimir Weckstorm won his 6th game of the season, stopping 31-of-35 shots. As a result of the Shreveport MudBugs victory over the Odessa Jackalopes on this same night, the Amarillo Wranglers were eliminated from playoff contention.

Saturday’s game

Out of the gate, the chippiness started between two teams that respected one another but don’t like one another. At the 15:24 mark of the first period, Jake Bollinger started where he left off the night before by getting an unassisted goal from the top of the key, giving Amarillo an early 1–0 lead. Recently promoted Center Alfons Gentler a.k.a. “the Alien” sniped one past newly acquired warrior goalie Christopher Prater, giving the Wranglers the early 2–0 lead. With 11 minutes left in the first period, Warrior Alexander Duhon scored his ninth goal of the season, cutting Amarillo’s lead in half. Amarillo held onto the 2–1 lead going into the first intermission.

The second period saw a large momentum shift towards the Oklahoma Warriors as they scored three unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead into the final break.

With the momentum clearly on the Warriors side, the third period started off with an immediate goal from the Warriors Nolen Davis, giving Oklahoma the 5-2 lead. With a lot of extracurricular after-whistle activity between two teams, somehow Ukrainian and Amarillo Wrangler Danylo Dolin was able to force the puck into the net that shifted the momentum to Amarillo.

Three minutes later the young forward out of Budapest Kolos Feher collected some loose change in front of the net, giving him his second goal of the season and the Wranglers some hope as they cut into the Warriors lead 5-4. With one minute to play in the game, first year head coach Micheal Hill pulled goalie Casimir Weckstrom, giving the Amarillo Wranglers a man advantage in the final minute of the game. The Oklahoma Warriors were able to hit the empty net with just 31 seconds left in the game, wrapping up the game for the Wranglers in a loss 6-4.

1976 Wranglers Hockey Reunion

Amarillo has a rich history of 30 plus years with high-quality hockey at the Amarillo Civic Center.

A multi-purpose event center primarily built for hockey, the Amarillo Civic Center has played host to a litany of great hockey. The Wranglers played host to the 1976 Wranglers hockey team this Saturday night. This team was the inaugural Southwest Hockey League (SWHL) Champions that gave Amarillo its first professional hockey championship. Under charismatic and colorful head coach Cal “Swede” Swenson, the team promoted player education while offering tuition and stipend for further college education, something unheard of at the time.

Amarillo was treated to an “Old Timers” game Saturday morning at the Budweiser Bullpen that played into a magnificent high stakes shootout that was done in good fun and team camaraderie. Players like Glenn McLvor, Barrie Stafford and Micheal Raedeke laced up the skates and ignited a brotherhood that was alive and well in the Amarillo Civic Center. The rich heritage of the quality hockey that has been played in our community was on full display this Saturday morning.

Saturday evening after the Wranglers vs. Warriors game, a jersey auction was held for the game-worn throwback jerseys that were worn this weekend by the NAHL Amarillo Wranglers. These beautiful navy and orange throwback sweaters were all the talk during this weekend series against the Oklahoma Warriors. 

Amarillo Broadcaster for next season

Amarillo has seen its fair share of amazing and gifted broadcasters throughout its 30 plus years of hockey at the Budweiser Bullpen. Without argument the best of the best has to be legendary broadcaster Denis J. Puska. A true artist in the broadcast booth, Puska spent well over a decade in the Amarillo market, entertaining the hockey faithful like no one else could. As a result of Puska’s dedication to his craft, the broadcast booth at the Amarillo Civic Center was recently named in his honor. 

Puska is currently living in the Canada, not slowing down at all. As the creator, owner and President of Puska Media Services, Denis has taken his career to the next level in his beloved country of Canada.

It is with a great deal of pride and purpose that I’m pleased to announce that I will be taking over the broadcast duties for the 2026-27 season.

My love for junior league hockey and specifically the Amarillo Wranglers will give me an unfair advantage in broadcasting hockey from the Dennis J. Puska broadcasting booth. I make a promise to the discriminating and knowledgeable hockey fans of our community: I will do my absolute best to deliver the highest quality broadcast, done with enthusiasm and knowledge. I am deeply grateful to the Amarillo Wrangler’s organization for this amazing opportunity and I cannot wait for the start of the 2026-27 hockey season.

Editor’s Note

Please listen for Tommy Tee‘s weekly recap of Amarillo Wranglers hockey on the “Drive at Five” with Lance Lahnert every Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. exclusively on 710-AM KGNC.