Blaine, Minnesota |9/13/23 | Isaac Smoldon
The Anchorage Wolverines fell 5-4 in overtime against the Rochester Jr. Americans at the NAHL showcase Wednesday afternoon. Rochester scored all four of their regulation goals on the powerplay, with a 66% conversion rate in the contest. Anchorage netminder Jozef Zilinec had 23 saves in the loss.
Anchorage opened the scoring halfway through the 1st when Fyodor Nikolayenya stole the puck in the offensive zone and slammed home his second of the season. The Jr. Americans responded late in the frame with their first powerplay goal of the game, with Landon Brownlee blasting a one-timer past Zilinec to tie things at one.
The Wolverines would regain the lead just under five minutes into the 2nd when Tai Ushio tapped in a backdoor pass from Wilson Dahlheimer for his second of the year. The Jr. Americans would once again take advantage of a powerplay opportunity to knot things back up however, this time thanks to a Matteo Disipio goal from the slot. Anchorage once again jumped ahead late in the frame, off of their own powerplay goal from the stick of Nikolayenya.
Despite going into the final period up by one, the Wolverines ran into some trouble halfway through the 3rd when a Rochester 5-on-3 turned into two goals in rapid succession. Now trailing for the first time all game, Anchorage looked for a response, which came when Nikolayenya scored a hattrick powerplay goal at the 13:34 mark to tie the game at four. The contest went to overtime, but despite having early chances, the Wolverines couldn’t find the back of the net, and a second goal from Disipio won the game for the Jr. Americans by a final score of 5-4.
Rochester went 4-for-6 on the powerplay, while Anchorage capitalized on the man advantage twice, going 2-for-4 on the afternoon. Anchorage native Florian Wade had 29 saves in the win for Rochester.
Tomorrow, the Wolverines will play the New Mexico Ice Wolves from the South Division. New Mexico ended the season 33-23-4 last year, finishing in 5th place in its division. The game marks the first time that Anchorage has faced off against the Ice Wolves in the three-year history of the team. Puck drop is at 2:30 p.m. AKDT, with the game available exclusively on nahltv.com.
