Greeley, CO – The Amarillo Wranglers took down the Colorado Grit on Saturday afternoon by the final score of 4-1 at Greeley Ice Haus. Wranglers goaltender Andrew Peterson made his first NAHL start and earned his first NAHL win in the victory.
The Wranglers entered the afternoon showdown in search of their third straight win after winning last night’s game over the Grit 7-6 in overtime. Andrew Peterson made his first NAHL start between the pipes for the Wranglers. Peterson, 18, is a native of Grand Forks, ND and previously spent time with the Cleveland Barons 18U AAA team. Colorado turned to Jack Erickson between the pipes who came into yesterday’s game and stopped 16/18 shots in relief of Aiden Garipey.
Colorado opened the scoring with 3:01 to go in the first period when Brayden Fryfogle scored a shorthanded goal to put Colorado up 1-0. Amarillo outshot Colorado 8-7 in the first period in what was a pretty evenly played frame.
In the second period, Jack Ivey cashed in on the power play to tie the game up 1-1. Zap won the face-off and found McDonald in the slot who picked his head up and found Ivey all alone for the score 6:17 into the second frame. No other scoring occurred and the game was even heading into the third period. Shots were 18-13 in favor of the Wranglers after two periods.
Topi Puikkonen scored 4:13 into the third period from Papaspyropoulos and Zap to give the Wranglers a 2-1 lead. Puikkonen’s goal was his 14th of the season. About three minutes later, Puikkonen struck again on the mad advantage to give Amarillo a 3-1 lead. Zap picked up the lone assist on the goal giving him his ninth multi-point game of the season. With 8:57 to go in the period, Ben Ivey scored the Wranglers’ third power play goal of the night to make it a 4-1 game. Amarillo outshot Colorado 26 to 19 and Peterson stopped 18/19 en route to his first NAHL victory.
The Wranglers and Grit will wrap up the three-game set in Greeley on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 CST before the scene shifts to Amarillo next weekend. You can watch on NATV or listen in on YouTube.