Amarillo TX – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Colorado Grit 3-2 in overtime on Sunday in the 2023-24 regular season finale. Topi Puikkonen scored the overtime winner to give Amarillo one more victory heading into the Robertson Cup Play-In vs. New Mexico.
The Grit and the Wranglers met for the 12th and final time on Sunday afternoon in the final game of the regular season. Colorado started goaltender Jack Erickson between the pipes for the third straight time in the set, while the Wranglers turned to Andrew Peterson in goal. Peterson entered the matchup 3-0 on the season – winning each of his games against Colorado.
The first period was scoreless, but both goaltenders were busy making saves in the opening frame. Peterson steered aside 10 Colorado shots, while Erickson stopped 16 in the opening period. Both sides had a chance on the man advantage, but neither was able to capitalize.
Things opened up in the second period when Colorado’s Bowen Burke scored the game’s opening goal 4:46 into the second frame on the power play to put the Grit up 1-0. The Grit added another goal 7:30 into the second to go up 2-0 when Brayden Fryfogle deflected a Christian Carter shot for the score. With 4:05 left in the second period, Nick Troutwine put the Wranglers on the board with a power play goal to make it a 2-1 game. Topi Puikkonen earned the lone assist. Through two periods the Wranglers outshot the Grit 31-24, but it was Colorado who held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
In need of a goal to tie the game, the Wranglers brought the heat in the third period outshooting the Grit 13-4 in the final frame. Amarillo got the goal it was searching for from team-leading goal scorer Jack Ivey 10:37 into the period to tie the game at 2-2. Ivey’s 32nd goal of the season came unassisted and was the final goal of regulation. Sixty minutes wasn’t enough, so the game went to overtime.
Andrew Peterson made a huge save for the Wranglers to deny Colorado the victory and set up a chance for Amarillo the other way. Roman Zap entered the zone on the right wing and found a streaking Topi Puikkonen moving toward the goal, where Puikkonen fired a shot past Erickson 44 seconds into overtime to give the Wranglers the 3-2 victory. Puikkonen’s goal was his team-leading 7th game winning goal of the season and ended the regular season with a win. Andrew Peterson stopped 27/29 shots for his 4th win of the season. Amarillo finished the campaign with a record of 32-20-6-2 with 72 points, improving upon its 71 point season in 2022-23.
With the regular season wrapped up, the opening round of the Robertson Cup Play-In is set. The Amarillo Wranglers will travel to Albuquerque, NM to take on the New Mexico Ice Wolves in a best-of-three series to advance to round one of the Robertson Cup Playoffs. Game 1 is set for Friday 4/12 at 7:30 PM CDT. Game 2 is set for Saturday 4/13 at 7:30 PM CDT. Game 3 (if necessary) is set for Sunday 4/14 at 3:00 PM CDT. You can watch on NATV or listen on YouTube.