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Tornado hold on in third, take two from Topeka
by John Tranchina
12/29/07
Now this
is more like it!
After snapping a nine-game losing streak Friday night, the
Texas Tornado made it two victories in a row with a 5-3 triumph over
the Topeka RoadRunners Saturday night at the Frisco Dr Pepper
StarCenter’s DejaBlue Arena.
One night after losing a two-goal lead in the third period
before rallying for a shootout win, the Tornado held on to close it
out in regulation, winning back-to-back games for the first time
since late September.
The Tornado received goals from five different players,
three of whom notched their first goals of the season - Troy Puente,
Andrew Blazek, and Augie Hoffman (into an empty net with 13 seconds
left) - while John Bullis and Sam Goodwin each contributed two
assists. Adam Mitchell and Sean Roadhouse also scored. Tommy
Callaghan was excellent in goal once again, especially in the third
period as he made 15 saves with Topeka pressuring, and 26 overall.
The victory moves the Tornado, which had won just once in
the 18 games prior to this weekend, to 9-22-3 on the season for 21
points, nine back of Alaska for the final playoff spot. This was
the second of 15 straight home games that the club hopes will propel
them back into the post-season chase.
“I’m really happy for the guys, especially the ones that
have been here from the beginning,” Texas coach Dwight Mullins
said. “We’ve been sort of waiting for this time, and it’s taken a
long time. By no means are we out of the woods, but we’re going to
enjoy it. It’s been a struggle and we’re going to really enjoy it,
so I’m happy for the guys.”
Entering the third period with a lead for the second
consecutive night, this time up 2-1, the Tornado extended the
advantage to two at 3:24 on Blazek’s first official NAHL goal.
While he did score the game-winner in the shootout Friday night in
his debut after his acquisition from Des Moines of the USHL, that
doesn’t count in the statistics.
Bullis set up the play by chasing down a loose puck in the
Topeka zone and firing a wrist shot from the right face-off circle
that RoadRunners netminder Bryce Merriam stopped. But the rebound
bounced out into the slot, and as Topeka’s John Stoddard overskated
the puck, Blazek pounced on it and knocked it into the open net for
the 3-1 lead.
The Tornado then got into some more penalty trouble, a
problem for them throughout the contest as they put Topeka on the
power play 11 times, accounting for all three goals against.
When Goodwin was whistled for tripping at 5:33, the
RoadRunners had a golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 advantage for
1:42 and capitalized on it. Josh Kamrass, stationed to the right of
the crease, re-directed a nice pass from Tom Kleidon at the blue
line up and over Callaghan’s shoulder at 6:16 to make it 3-2.
But the Tornado bounced back and Mitchell connected for
his fourth of the season less than three minutes later to restore
the two-goal bulge. After Mike Cifelli passed out from behind the
net, Mitchell ripped a snap shot from the slot that Merriam stopped,
but he retrieved his own rebound and lifted it over the fallen
goalie. Mitchell had a game-high five shots on goal.
Less than a minute later, Callaghan maintained the
two-goal edge by denying Stoddard’s short-handed breakaway chance, a
play that led to another Texas penalty.
On the ensuing power play, Callaghan was called upon to
make several big saves. First he made a sliding stop on Corey
Jendras’ one-timer attempt from the left of the crease, and when the
rebound bounced out front to Kamrass on the right side, his shot
ricocheted off the near post and into the corner.
Seconds later, Callaghan made another big stop on Aaron
Gens’ shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
Callaghan thwarted Kamrass again from the slot with just
1:35 remaining and the Tornado holding on to the two-goal lead.
Another penalty with 1:16 to go, combined with the
RoadRunners’ decision to pull Merriam for an extra attacker, gave
Topeka a 6-on-4 skating advantage, and Callaghan again robbed
Kamrass on a wrist shot from the slot with 40 seconds left.
But the RoadRunners broke through with just 20 seconds on
the clock, as Kamrass, standing at the left post, banged home a nice
cross-ice pass from Jordan George to make it 4-3. It was the second
goal of the game for Kamrass and his eighth of the season.
The Tornado won the resultant face-off at center ice,
however, and Hoffman was able to seal the win by sending a bouncing
puck into the empty net.
So although Texas was outshot 17-9 in the final period,
they held on and emerged with the win.
“I felt like we were fine,” Mullins said of the club being
able to weather the storm in the third. “I just thought maybe the
refereeing or officiating kind of changed their degree a little bit
of what they were going to take. They put us in some difficult
situations. I think the key is that we didn’t seem to be in too
much trouble.
“I think that with the heart and soul that Jason Zawacki
and Sean Roadhouse and those kind of guys displayed in the last few
minutes there, getting in front of pucks and really gritting it out,
is just real positive things for our hockey team.”
Trailing 1-0 entering the second, the Tornado gave up the
first big scoring chance of the period about eight minutes in,
although they were on the power play. Callaghan lost the puck while
trying to play it behind the net, and Travis Stevens ended up with
it all alone in front, made a move to his backhand and tried to slip
it between the pads. But Callaghan was able to close the hole quick
enough to make the save.
That was one of several short-handed opportunities the
Tornado gave up, one night after surrendering a short-handed goal
with 3:25 remaining that allowed the RoadRunners to tie the score
and send it to overtime and then a shootout.
After sputtering on several power plays in a row through
the second period, Texas began to apply more offensive pressure once
they were back to 5-on-5. Overall on the PP, the Tornado were
0-for-7.
Texas
then erupted for two goals in a span of 33 seconds late in the
period to surge into a lead they never relinquished.
Bullis initiated the first goal by leading a rush into the
Topeka zone, then leaving a nice drop pass for Puente as he was
knocked down in front. Puente, cutting wide across the slot, waited
for Bullis to stop sliding along the ice and then fired a wrist shot
from the left circle, with Blazek setting a screen in front of
Merriam, that tied the game with 2:33 left in the second period.
Roadhouse then connected for his eighth of the year with
2:00 remaining as he received a nice pass from Gustav Bengtson
behind the net and popped it over Merriam’s glove for the 2-1 lead.
“It’s obvious that the power play needs to get better, but
the good thing is we found a way to get the lead going into the
third period,” assistant coach Craig Ludwig said. “It wasn’t
pretty, and I think once we get that power play creating momentum -
right now, I think it’s sucking it out of us - I think we’re going
to be okay. It’s a work in progress, we’ve got some guys that
haven’t been in the mix the last few weeks so these are things we
have to work on, but overall, I think we have to be satisfied where
we’re at.”
“I thought in the second period, the frustration that we
had coming out of our own zone on a power play really affected us
mentally in our 5-on-5 game,” Mullins added. “It’s like I explained
to our guys, that was just a small part and overall, we were still
doing good things and we came in here with a lead, even though it
felt like we were in trouble.”
In a fairly even first period, the RoadRunners had the
game’s first real scoring chance, as Stevens raced in on a breakaway
with 3:52 left in the period, deked to his forehand and tried to go
five-hole, but Callaghan closed his pads and made the save
Topeka
grabbed the first lead of the night just 48 seconds later, as Gens
scored his seventh goal of the season on a power play. Just seven
seconds after Ben Van Lare entered the penalty box for checking from
behind, the RoadRunners’ Matt Hartmann won a face-off in the Tornado
zone, worked it back to the point and Gens blasted a one-timer from
the blue line that found its way through several bodies to the back
of the net.
The addition of Blazek to the lineup and the return of
Bullis, who came back Friday night after missing about six weeks
with a shoulder injury, have added a lot to the Tornado and make
them a more dangerous team.
“What he does is he’s got intent to get to the net, he’s
got intent to get to the hard areas and he’ll pay the price to
create something,” Ludwig said of Blazek. “And I think what has to
happen now is we’ve got other people who have to follow his lead.
The result was the first goal, Puente’s goal, he went to the front
of the net, he drew a defenseman to him and Puente finds a way to
get it in there. I think we noticed it last night, Blazer comes in,
he hits somebody, Bullis comes in, he hits somebody, next shift,
Kruse hits somebody. These guys are leading the way and I think,
slowly, we’re going to become a team that’s going to be hard to play
against. I think that’s what we’re striving for now, especially
here in our own building with so many games coming up at home.”
The Tornado will be back in action next Friday, Jan. 4,
against the South Division-leading Wichita Falls Wildcats, a 7:30 pm
start at the DejaBlue Arena, a game in which Texas will be seeking
its third straight win.
“We’ve been waiting a long time to experience this and
we’re going to enjoy it, and then keep moving on,” Mullins said.
THREE STARS
3. Matt Tennyson, Texas
2. John Bullis, Texas
1. Andrew Blazek, Texas
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