Friday

In Friday’s contest between the Rockets from Toledo and the Stallions from WMU, the two teams seemed evenly matched through much of the first period, exchanges changes and end to end rushes. Toledo opened the scoring hallway into the first period with a shot from the slot that eluded Stallion goaltender Alex Hufford. Toledo scored again towards the end of the first period when they executed a perfect 3-2 rush with the goal coming off a back door pass into an empty net.

The Stallion cut the lead in half 10 minutes into the second period when Nick Sulen and Devin Farkas worked the puck out of the defensive zone and sent Zachary Roberts and Wyatt Ford on a 2 on 1 breakaway. Roberts used Ford as a decoy and then scored the highlight goal of the night as he deked the defensemen out of the way, then dragged the puck around the crease until the goalie was fell on the ice and Roberts tucked the puck under the bar for the Stallion goal.

Unfortunately that highlight goal was the only one that the Stallions were able to get past the Toledo netminder. Despite playing a fairly even game in shots, Toledo had many more scoring chances and was able to capitalize on them when the Stallions could not. Toledo scored 3 more goals in the second period and led 5-1 after 2 periods.

Miles Madden replaced Hufford in net for the Stallions to start the third period and the Stallions picked up their physical play, but the damage had already been done. Toledo managed to score another goal in the third period and won the game 6-1. Madden stopped 9 of the 10 shots he faced. Hufford stopped 18 of the 23 shots against him.

Saturday

The teams shifted to Toledo for the second game of the weekend and the game took on a different tone early. This game was much more physical and the Stallions applied contact pressure to the Toledo defense.

The physical play started early and Toledo took the first of its 12 penalties only 4 minutes into the game with a checking from behind call. Unfortunately for the Stallions, Toledo was able to able to grab the puck and score a shorthanded goal on a breakaway to grab the 1-0 lead. The difference this night was that the Stallions were able to respond. After a fracas where both teams received major facemask penalties, Jack Kaptrosky and Patrick Nicholson were able to work the puck to Wyatt Radakovitz who fired the puck under the Toledo goalie to even the score at 1.  Two minutes later, Kaptrosky scored his first ACHA goal as he converted on a 2 on 1 breakaway with a top shelf snipe over the goalie’s glove to give the Stallions their first lead of the weekend.

Toledo tied up the game a minute into the second period as they skated through the team and fired a laser over the Stallion goalie, Alex Hufford, and just under the bar. Devin Farkas put the Stallions back into the lead when he took a pass from Zachary Roberts and fired a shot from the point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net.

It was at this point that the game turned ugly. On the forecheck, Toledo forward and coach’s son Adam Felser nailed one of the Stallions from behind with a vicious hit. As the scrum was being untangled and the linesman was escorting Felser to the box, Felser collided with Stallion goaltender Hufford in the crease. Felser took exception with Hufford and spun 180 degrees and delivered a heavy, two handed slash to the back of the goaltenders knee, which immediately dropped Hufford to the ice. Felser earned a major penalty and game disqualification for the check from behind and a second major penalty and another game disqualification for the slash on the Stallion goaltender. After several minutes of evaluation by the trainer, Hufford was able to stand and eventually continue in the game.

The Stallions would score their fourth goal of the game and the eventual game winner on the power play when Corey Siwula took a pass from Farkas and fired it over the goalies blocker bar down into the net. The Stallions finished the second period with a 4-2 lead.

An early Toledo penalty in the third allowed Radakovitz and Michael Altobelli to work the puck to Christian Sana who scored on the power play for the Stallions. More mayhem occurred in the third period as the Stallions kept the pressure on the Rockets. There were major penalties called for fighting, high sticking and spearing, 3 game DQs, a game misconduct and a few minor penalties thrown in for good measure. Toledo added a late goal, but got no closer as the Stallions won 5-3.

In total there were 22 penalties for 116 minutes called with 8 major penalties and 5 game misconducts handed out. The Stallions were 2-8 on the powerplay while Toledo did not score on their 7 chances. The Stallions outshot the Rockets 55-33.

Stallion goaltender Hufford stopped 30 of 33 shots and improved to 10-4 on the season. Five different Stallions scored with Radakovitz, Kaptrosky and Farkas each earning a goal and an assist.

The Stallions improve to 11-4 on the season.