This wasn’t quite what was in the script.

After winning five of their last six and climbing back into the NAHL’s playoff race, the Texas Tornado came out with a flat effort and dropped a disappointing 5-0 contest to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs Friday night at the Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter’s DejaBlue Arena.

The Tornado were shut out for the first time in 19 games as Ice Dog netminder Cody Reichard made 25 saves for his league-leading sixth shutout. Aaron Stonacek scored two goals and one assist to lead Fairbanks offensively.

Texas (12-24-3) still trails fourth-place Alaska by just five points for that final South Division playoff spot thanks to a Wichita Falls victory over the Avalanche earlier in the evening, so at least they didn’t lose any more ground.

With the Avalanche here next weekend for three games, the Tornado were hoping to close the gap a little more and this game was a missed opportunity to edge closer.

“I thought that we were getting a little frantic with the puck and we were panicking a lot,” noted Tornado winger John Bullis, who returned from a four-game absence due to eligibility issues, but was ejected midway through the second period. “It didn’t seem like we were all on the same level tonight for some reason. They had a strong presence on their blue line, they were pressing, which makes it hard for us to get it out and get it in their zone. The whole frantic thing comes with the neutral zone - in the neutral zone, we were really skittered everywhere, it was really hard to get control and get momentum in their zone.”

The Ice Dogs slowed down the speedy Tornado by clogging the neutral zone and not allowing them any odd-man rushes, and that is one of the strengths of a Fairbanks team that won for the ninth time in its last 10 outings. The Ice Dogs, currently second in the South Division, also improved their road record to a league-best 14-4-1.

“It’s something we try to pride ourselves on, is defending, that’s our strength, our backside and in the net,” Fairbanks coach Rob Profitt said. “We want to make sure we don’t give up chances and when we get them, we try to finish them and tonight, we were fortunate enough to do that early.”

The Ice Dogs indeed got off to a quick start as Stonacek staked them to the early 1-0 lead just 5:59 into the contest. After Brock Shelgren’s shot from the blue line was deflected on its way to the net, Tornado goaltender Tommy Callaghan made the initial save but couldn’t control the rebound. After a mad scramble in the slot for the loose puck, Stonacek managed to swat it through a bunch of legs in front into the net.

Fairbanks nearly made it a two-goal lead on a power play with 8:49 left in the opening period when Callaghan stopped Stonacek’s blast from the blue line, but Jon Waggoner retrieved the rebound in front. With Callaghan down, Waggoner had an open net, but the puck rolled off his stick and slid wide.
Perhaps the Tornado’s best chance of the game came later on the same power play, as captain Sean Roadhouse raced into the Ice Dog zone on a shorthanded breakaway, but Reichard made a big glove save on his wrist shot from the left face-off circle. The puck lay tantalizingly loose in the crease for a moment, but Roadhouse couldn’t get to it before it was cleared away.

The Ice Dogs put a strangle-hold on the game when Stonacek deposited his second goal of the game and team-leading 14th of the season behind Callaghan with just 33 seconds remaining in the first period on another power play. Paul Kirtland made a pretty pass out of the left corner to a wide-open Stonacek in front and the resulting one-timer beat Callaghan between the pads for a 2-0 Fairbanks lead.

“He’s been our hottest player, no question,” Profitt said of Stonacek. “Plus, from our standpoint, we added three new guys into our lineup, inserted tonight and all of them found their way to the scoresheet, which was big as well.”

Trailing 2-0 entering the second, the Tornado fell behind by three just 4:37 into the period as Eric Kraft connected for his 10th goal of the season. Waggener fed a slick pass from the left face-off circle to Kraft in the slot, and Kraft’s wrist shot beat Callaghan past his blocker.

Two and a half minutes later, Callaghan came up with a big glove snag on Kirtland’s scorching wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

Just before the midway point of the period, Bullis was ejected after earning a double minor for checking-from-behind, his second such penalty of the game.

“Bully’s got to stand out,” Tornado assistant coach Craig Ludwig noted. “He missed four games, so he’s got to get his legs underneath him. For guys like John Bullis and (Andrew) Blazek and (Ryan) Fuller, in order for them to be effective, they need to be physical players on the ice. When they’re physical first, the rest of the game will come for them.”

While Bullis may have taken that notion a bit too far, he did feel good after his season was interrupted for a couple of weeks.

“Condition-wise, I felt good, but it’s really hard coming back,” Bullis admitted. “Practice is different than in a game and it’s really hard to come back and get on the same level as the guys that have been playing and have been in the lineup. It’s really hard to get on the same page and start clicking with them, but aside from that, I felt conditioned and ready to go. I felt healthy.”

Just 19 seconds into the subsequent Ice Dog power play, Arthur Bidwell collected his eighth of the year to make it 4-0. Bidwell controlled the puck at the right point and floated a high wrist shot towards the net that somehow navigated its way through a maze of bodies in front and past Callaghan at 10:05.

It may have been inadvertently deflected by Tornado defender Troy Puente, but either way, Tornado coach Dwight Mullins decided to lift Callaghan and replace him with rookie backup Matt Pombo, who saw his first NAHL action. Pombo made one save before coming out again after just 40 seconds in the crease.
Callaghan then made a big stop on Ryan Santanna’s one-timer from the slot with 5:15 left in the second.

There was a lengthy delay just 20 seconds later after Fairbanks’ Nick Guran nailed Gustav Bengtson with a check into the glass directly in front of the official scorer’s table which knocked the pane out and onto the officials! Two of the brave Tornado off-ice officials were cut on the play, but like the hockey players, they remained in the game.

Going into the third period, the Tornado seemed a bit more determined to play their game, outshooting the Ice Dogs 9-4, but still were unable to solve Reichard.

“He was solid, no question,” Fairbanks coach Profitt said. “He’s been that for us all year long, making the saves he’s supposed to. That’s why he’s the top goaltender in the league, when he gives you a chance every night. He keeps it at two or under every night, it gives you a chance to win. That’s been our key.”

One of Reichard’s toughest saves was his glove snag through a screen on Tyler Bowman’s wrist shot from the blue line 2:15 into the third period.

Fairbanks then sealed the victory with John Lennarton’s fifth goal of the season at 3:40 of the final frame, as he ripped a slap shot past Callaghan from just inside the blue line.

That prompted Coach Mullins to pull Callaghan again, this time for the rest of the game, after he surrendered five goals on 23 shots in 42:33. Pombo faced just four shots in his debut, but was solid and didn’t let any in.

“No matter whether a goalie lets in one or lets in five, he’s got to keep his head up and look forward to the next game because you can’t change the past,” Bullis noted. “You’ve got to keep looking forward and keep your head up and have your teammates keep you up and stay behind you the whole way. Everything should go good (Saturday) after we get a good night’s sleep and change things up a little bit.”

Reichard finished the contest making nice stops on Ben Van Lare, who led all skaters with seven shots on goal, with 15:14 remaining and on Bengtson with three minutes left.

“What I see is a team on the other side paying a price to get to the front of the net area, and I think we need to do the same thing,” assistant coach Ludwig assessed. “After every whistle and every shot, there’s a confrontation in front of our net and I think we talked about it before the game, they’ve got a hell of a goaltender over there and he makes the saves, and the only way to get pucks past him is to make it uncomfortable and take away his vision, so we need more guys going to the net and stopping and staying in that area. Once we do that, we’re going to see some better results and make him work a little bit harder.”

The same two teams are back on the ice at the DejaBlue Arena Saturday night at 7:30 pm (listen to Tommy Daniels and myself call the game), and the Tornado need to get their game back on track. They will be wearing special Chef-themed jerseys, sponsored by 3 Doors Down Catering, and the jerseys will be auctioned off for charity following the contest.

THREE STARS

3. Jon Waggoner, Fairbanks (two assists, +2)
2. Cody Reichard, Fairbanks (25 save shutout)
1. Aaron Stonacek, Fairbanks (two goals, one assist, +2)

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