Greeley, CO – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Colorado Grit by the final score of 5-1 on Friday night at Greeley Ice Haus. The Wranglers improved to 6-0-0-1 vs Colorado this season with the win.
Wranglers netminder Connor McDonough made his fourteenth consecutive start between the pipes for Amarillo, while Pete Sterling got the nod in net for Colorado.
The Wranglers opened the scoring 9:10 into the first period with a power play goal from Connor McNaughton. His goal was his 10th of the season assisted by Kyle DeMarco and Nick Troutwine to give the Amarillo a 1-0 lead. McNaughton’s goal would end up being the first of four unanswered by the Wranglers, as Ben Ivey redirected a Jack Ivey shot from the blue line past Sterling for his 11th goal of the season putting the Wranglers up 2-0. Ivey’s goal came with just 47 seconds remaining in the first period and was assisted by Jack Ivey and Jack McDonald. Amarillo outshot Colorado 12-8 after twenty minutes of play.
Amarillo continued to pour it on offensively, as Ben Ivey potted a power play goal for his second of the game from McDonald and DeMarco putting the Wranglers up 3-0 just 6:03 into the second period. A little over a minute later, Luke Morris scored his 8th goal of the year from Phillips and Puikkonen to extend the Amarillo lead to 4-0. After this goal, Colorado pulled Sterling in favor of Jack Erickson. Amarillo outshot Colorado 14-9 in the second period and led the shot count 26-17 through two periods.
In desperate search of a goal, Colorado spoiled McDonough’s shutout bid 32 seconds into the third period with a goal from Lucas Mann. Mann’s goal was his first in the NAHL and was assisted by Peyton Miller and Landon West to make it 4-1. Colorado tried to push back but the Wranglers were up to the task defensively and capped off the night with an empty netter late in the third period from Morely Phillips to settle the score at 5-1. Connor McDonough stopped 29/30 shots faced for his 23rd victory of the season.
Amarillo’s special teams shined bright, as the power play went 2/6 and the penalty kill was perfect going 4/4. This win snaps a five game losing streak and moves Amarillo up to 62 points on the year. The Wranglers improve to 27-18-6-2 on the season and can clinch a spot in the Robertson Cup Playoffs with a win on Saturday at Colorado, or if Odessa loses to Corpus Christi.
Puck drop for Saturday’s game will be at 4:45 PM CST, you can watch the game on NATV or listen in on YouTube.