Indianapolis Racers @ Miami Screaming Eagles
If you were a Miami fan in attendance tonight, you left the game happy as they doubled up the visiting Indianapolis Racers 6-3.
It would take just eighty-two seconds for Miami to get on the board first, as Fred Hoye would let a snapshot from the high slot that Robin Rohrkemper couldn’t get a pad on. It was goal #4 on the season for Hoye, with Anthony Simard (5) and Pete Applegarth (9) picking up the assists.
The Racers would find themselves on the powerplay after an Anthony Simard tripping at 11:38 of the first period. Luke Matyjanka would take advantage of it for the Indianapolis Racers. Aaron Morris would make a shoulder save for the Eagles but make an errant pass while trying to clear it to a teammate, which allowed Matyjanka to pick up the puck and put it in the back of the net for his 7th goal of the season to tie the game at 1. Pat Main picked up his 13th assist on the goal and Billy Kimball picked up his team-leading 16th assist.
The second period saw Miami outscore Indianapolis 3-1 to head into the 2nd intermission with a 4-2 lead. Rastislav Cizmar got his 5th of the season at 1:58 before the Racers would tie it again with Billy Kimball picking up his 1st goal of the season. Steve Copeland (3) and Jordan Fox (11) closed out the scoring for Miami.
The 3rd period would go much the same way, as Miami would double up Indianapolis 2-1. Jim Hindman would get his 6th goal of the season with the Racers on the powerplay at 16:01 but with time running out Steve Tasker would score this 2nd of the season on an empty netter at 19:22 and nineteen seconds later Pete Applegarth would put the game away for good with his 5th of the season.
Aaron Morris was in net for Miami and stopped 32 of 35 shots for a .914 save percentage to move to 1-1. At the opposite end of the ice, Robin Rohrkemper was in net for Indianapolis. He stopped 39 of 44 shots for a .886 save percentage. He moves to 6-3-1 on the season.
Indianapolis Racers @ Cincinnati Stingers
The game tonight looked like a 1st place team in the division vs the last place team in the division as the Stingers made easy work of the Racers. Anthony Breese would put the Stingers up 1-0 at 3:24 of the first period when he’d let loose a shot from the top of the circle that Robin Rohrkemper wasn’t able to stop. Just over 3 minutes later at 6:58, the Stingers would take the 2-0 lead when Michael DePerry would float one past Rohrkemper. The Racers got their 1st of the game at 11:46 of the period as Bob Dale would redirect a Billy Kimball slapshot from the point past Ryan King to make it 2-1. Kimball picked up his 17th assist on the goal with Pat Main picking up his 14th.
The 2nd period would be all Stingers as they’d score 3 unanswered goals. Steve Cantrell opened the scoring in the period at the 3:48 mark with his 3rd goal of the season. Michael DePerry would pick up his 15th of the season with the Stingers on the powerplay at 7:28. Chad Morrison closed out the scoring for the Stingers at 8:39 of the period with his 4th of the season.
The third period would feature 10 penalty minutes but no scoring. Ryan King stopped 21 of 22 for the winning Stingers. He moves to 10-3-1 on the season and sits in 6th in the WHA in wins. Robin Rohrkemper was opposite him for the Racers and stopped 35 of 40 shots for a .875 save percentage. He moves to 6-4-1 on the season.
Indianapolis Racers @ Chicago Cougars
The Racers close out their 3 game road trip with a trip to the Randhurst Ice Arena to take on the Chicago Cougars. The first period would see no scoring and only one penalty, a 2-minute minor hooking to Andrew Lewis of the Cougars.
The only scoring in the second period would be by the team in red and blue as the Racers would score 2 goals during the middle 20. After a failed clearing attempt by the Cougars, Brennan Weeks would put a shot on goal that would be deflected by Woodrow Olson for his 4th goal of the season. It’d be assist number 5 of the season for Weeks and David Curtis picked up the other assist, his 7th of the season.
With just 9 seconds left in the 2nd period, Luke Matyjanka put home a rebound for his 8th goal of the season. Billy Kimball picked up the lone assist, #18 on the season for him.
The final period would be all Cougars, as they’d score 2 goals of their own to tie the game at 2. Both their goals in the period would come with the Cougars on the powerplay and be scored by left-winger Brent Peterson for his 5th and 6th goal of the season.
It would take almost the full 5 minutes of overtime to get a conclusion to the game. With time running out, Luke Matyjanka would crash the net to score on the rebound for his 9th goal of the season. Brennan Weeks (6) and Pat Main (15) picked up the assists.
Robin Rohrkemper was in net for Indianapolis and stopped 30 of 32 shots for a .938 save percentage. At the opposite end of the ice was Brayden Mason for Chicago, he stopped 33 of 36 for a .917 save percentage.
The Racers play two sets of back-to-back home and away games next week. They start on Monday with hosting the division-leading Cincinnati Stingers (17-5-2) before traveling back down to Miami to play the Screaming Eagles (10-9-2) for the 2nd time in 9 days. Friday they are back home to host the New Jersey Knights (10-12-0) before closing out the home and home Saturday night in New Jersey.
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