Greeley, CO – The Amarillo Wranglers have punched their ticket to the Robertson Cup Playoffs with an 8-4 win over the Colorado Grit on Saturday afternoon at Greeley Ice Haus. Amarillo got goals from eight different skaters in the victory. All but four Wranlger skaters recorded at least one point.
Andrew Peterson got the start in net for the Wranglers making his fourth appearance of the season. Peterson’s first NAHL win came in a 4-1 victory in Greeley back on January 6th. Colorado opted to go with Jack Erickson in net, who came in midway through Friday’s game stopping 10/10 shots faced in relief of Pete Sterling. This was the eighth meeting of the season and the second of a three-game set, as the Wranglers continued their season-long six-game road trip.
As fans were still filing into their seats, the Wranglers wasted no time and opened up the scoring 2:25 into the first period, as Nolan Gagnon skated from end to end and rifled a shot past Erickson to put Amarillo up 1-0 early. Just 41 seconds later, the Wranglers scored again off of some precise passing in the slot as Jacob Miller scored his fourth goal of the season from Grayson Gerhard and Elias Abrant to extend the Amarillo lead to 2-0. Colorado responded two minutes later as Alexander German scored from the left wing to get the Grit on the board and make it a 2-1 game. Connor McNaughton restored the Wranglers’ two-goal lead with his 11th goal of the year, as he batted the puck into the back of the net after it popped in and out of the glove of Erickson 7:51 into the opening period. Amarillo continued to assert its dominance offensively as Jack McDonald capped off the period with his 11th goal of the season from Jack Ivey and Cole Semeniuk with 4:11 remaining in the first. Amarillo took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission after outshooting Colorado 17-9. The four goals the Wranglers scored in the first period was the most they had scored in the first all season and tied a team-high for most goals in a period this season (4).
Colorado scored their second goal of the game 56 seconds into the second period with Alexander German getting his second of the game to make it 4-2. Early in the second frame, both teams had a power play chance, but neither was able to convert. Peterson was tested heavily in the second period as the Grit tried to mount a comeback, but the young netminder held firm. With 10:36 to go in the period, Luke Morris fired a shot off of a pass from Gadowsky below the goal line to give the Wranglers a 5-2 lead. Morley Phillips notched the secondary assist. Amarillo took this lead into the locker room. Colorado outshot the Wranglers 14-3 in the second period.
Noah Grolnic scored the opening goal of the third period at 3:15 in to pull the Grit within two at 5-3. Amarillo’s Grayson Gerhard responded by scoring his 4th goal of the year from Semeniuk to restore the Wranglers’ three-goal lead at 6-3. The Grit kept things interesting with another goal from Grolnic to make the score 6-4. Just 41 seconds after the Wranglers scored another, this time from Henry McRoberts to go up 7-4. McRoberts’ goal was his 2nd of the season and was assisted by McNaughton and Puikkonen. A late power play chance set up Jack Ivey for his 28th goal of the season to put the icing on the cake and give the Wranglers an 8-4 victory in Greeley. Andrew Peterson earned his third win of the season and stopped 26/30 shots faced. The eight goals in a game mark a new season-high for the Wranglers.
With the win, the Wranglers punched their ticket to the Robertson Cup Playoffs for the second straight season and improved to 28-18-6-2 on the campaign. Amarillo will wrap up the road trip on Sunday afternoon with another matchup against the Grit on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 CDT. You can watch on NATV or listen in on YouTube.