New York Raiders @ Indianapolis Racers
The Racers started the 4-game homestand by hosting the New York Islanders, third place in the Eastern Conference Southern Division. Both teams would swap goals in the first period, the Racers would score first at the 15:18 mark when Bob Dale one-timed a slapshot past Eugene MacNeill of the Raiders. It was goal number 9 on the season for Dale, Garland Davenport (12), and Pat Main (20) picked up the assists.
The Racers would find themselves on the penalty kill after a Woody White hooking penalty. With 53 seconds left in the first period, Felix Bowler would capitalize with the man advantage for the Raiders to tie the game at 1. It was goal number 18 on the season for Bowler, Sakari Lahnaviik (17), and Steve Powell (23) with the assists.
It took just fourteen seconds into the second period for the Racers to take the one-goal lead again, this time when Brennan Weeks would get past the defense and in on a breakaway to score his 4th goal of the season. The Racers grabbed the two-goal lead at 4:52 with Garland Davenport jumping on a rebound off a Derek Reaugh shot for his 4th goal of the season. It was assist number 4 on the season for Reaugh. The Raiders would make it a one-goal game again at the 16:55 mark when Nikita Lubchenko let loose a strange shot from the faceoff. It was goal number 11 on the season for Lubchenko.
The third period would go much the same way as the second period. Ramón Candelaria of the Racers would give Indianapolis a 2-goal lead at 7:12 of the third period with his 10th goal of the season. Jim Hindman picked up the lone assist, his 4th of the season. The Raiders would make it a one-goal game again at 9:25 when Steve Powell scored his 16th goal of the season. Tomás Götz & Viktor Molotov picked up the assists, it was assist number 12 for both of them. The Racers would put the game away for good with David Curtis scoring his 5th of the season from the top of the circle. Ron Simmons (10) and Derek Reaugh (5) with the assists.
Robin Rohrkemper was in the net for Indianapolis and stopped 30 of 33 shots for a .909 save percentage. He moves to 12-5-1 on the season. Eugene MacNeill was in net for New York and stopped 30 of 33 for a .857 save percentage. He moves to 17-9-2 on the season.
Miami Screaming Eagles @ Indianapolis Racers
It was the second of a back-to-back for the Indianapolis Racers, Jan-Anders Mattila got the start in net. Jim Hindman would make it 1-0 Indianapolis when he’d intercept a from Screaming Eagles defenseman, Darrel Guy. Hindman would take advantage and put it past Terry Grimwood to score his 8th goal of the season and put the Racers up 1-0. Just past the midway point of the period Ivan Stepanov of the Screaming Eagles picked up a rebound and scored to tie it at 1.
The lone goal in the second period came when Pat Main would redirect a Simon Strandberg pass past Grimwood to make it 2-1 Indianapolis for his 8th goal of the season. It was assist number 6 on the season for Strandberg with Luke Matyjanka picking up the other assist, his 7th of the season.
The third period saw Miami score two goals with the man advantage. With the Screaming Eagles on the powerplay due to a David Curtis holding penalty, the Eagles would take advantage 53 seconds into the period with Rastislav Cizmar scoring his 11th goal of the season. Fred Hoye (8) and Ivan Stepanov (6) with the assists. Miami would again find themselves on the powerplay a minute and a half later with a Billy Kimball hooking penalty. Miami would again capitalize, this time with Pete Applegarth scoring his 8th goal of the season. Ivan Stepanov picked up the lone assist, his 7th of the season. The Racers would tie the game at 4:38 with Brennan Weeks scoring his 5th of the season. Billy Kimball (27) and David Curtis (11) with the assists.
Neither team would score in overtime, so it’d take a skills competition to decide a winner. Alvin Lund scored first for Miami before David Curtis scored for Indianapolis. After misses by both teams, Jordan Fox would score the winner for Miami.
Terry Grimwood picks up the win in net for Miami, stopping 35 of 38 shots for a .921 save percentage. He moves to 7-5-5 on the season. Jan-Anders Mattila took the loss, stopping 27 of 30 shots for a .900 save percentage. He moves to 3-7-4 on the season.
Baltimore Blades @ Indianapolis Racers
It was the second meeting of the season between the Blades and Racers, this time in Indianapolis. The opening period had the hometown Racers fans up on their feet as the Racers would jump out to the 3-0 lead by the time the first twenty minutes were over. Derek Reaugh opened the scoring at 1:27 with his 3rd of the season. The Racers would score 2 goals in the final 30 seconds with Jim Hindman scoring his 9th of the season at 19:28 and Ramón Candelaria scoring his 11th of the season at 19:42. Brennan Weeks (8) and David Curtis (12) with the assists.
The second period would feature only one goal and it’d put the Racers up 4-0 as Luke Matyjanka scored his 10th goal of the season, Billy Kimball (28) and Ramón Candelaria (6) with the assists. It’s an 8 game assist streak for Kimball.
Baltimore would attempt to make a game of it in the third period, as they’d open the period by scoring two goals in the first nine minutes. Eugene Haupt got the Blades on the board with his 14th of the season at 2:10. Grant James (2) and Alex Tucker (16) picked up the assists. Jamie Benning would score his team-leading 21st goal of the season at 8:50. It’d extend his goal streak to 5 games. Francis Audet (13) and Sidney Guyton (5) with the assists. The Racers would close out the game with an empty netter at 19:33 of the period when Brennan Weeks scored his 6th of the season.
Robin Rohrkemper was in net for Indianapolis and stopped 35 of 39 shots for a .897 save percentage. With the win, he moves into a tie for 3rd in wins in the WHA. He moves to 13-5-1 on the season. Ales Pejsar was on the opposite end of the ice and stopped 35 of 39 for a .897 save percentage. He moves to 12-7-1 on the season.
Vancouver Blazers @ Indianapolis Racers
The Racers close out the four-game homestead by hosting the Vancouver Blazers at Market Square Arena. David Curtis would put Indianapolis on the board first at 11:38 of the first period with a one-timer on a pass from Woodrow Olson. It was goal number 6 for Curtis and assist number 2 for Olson.
In the second period, Vancouver would tie it 5 minutes into the period with Ron Betts scoring his 7th goal of the season. Matt Mullin (13) and Charlie Wyant (6) with the assists. The Racers would take the one-goal lead again at 10:14 of the period with Woody White scoring his 9th goal of the season. Jim Hindman (6) and Garland Davenport (14) picked up the assists. They’d make it 3-1 15:53 into the period when Ramón Candelaria scored his 12th goal of the season. Brandon McElroy (5) and David Curtis (13) with the assists. The Blazers scored their second goal of the period with just under three minutes remaining in the period, as Ron Betts would break free with the Blazers on the penalty kill to score a shorthanded goal. It was goal number 8 on the season, Zander Nelson picked up his 1st assist of the season, while Ronald MacInstalker picked up his 2nd.
The Vancouver Blazers would come out strong in the final period, as they’d tie it just 24 seconds into the period with Leon Bühler scoring his 2nd of the season. Dawson MacWattie (17) and Les Spinner (6) with the assists. The Blazers would take the lead at 6:58 as Charlie Wyant would sneak a wraparound behind Robin Rohrkemper of the Racers. Matt Mullin picked up the lone assist on the goal, his 14th of the season. The Racers would tie it with just under four minutes remaining in the game, as Luke Matyjanka would let go a shot from the top of the circle to score his 11th goal of the season. Bob Dale (8) and Pat Main (22) picked up the assists. Regulation would end with the game tied 4-4.
Neither team would score in the overtime period, so for the 2nd time this week, it’d take a shootout to decide a winner. It’d take a total of nine skaters before either team would score in the shootout. Woody White of the Racers scored before Juraj Klaus of the Blazers responded with his own goal. Brennan Weeks would then miss for the Racers and Dawson MacWattie would capitalize on scoring and giving the Blazers the 5-4 win.
Mark Eberhart stopped 45 of 49 shots for Vancouver for a .918 save percentage. Robin Rohrkemper stopped 33 of 37 for a .892 save percentage.
The Racers play just two games next week, with both those being on the road and back-to-back. Racers visit New Jersey to take on the Knights (18-14-1) on Tuesday night. Then they head to Houston to take on the Aeros (20-11-3) on Wednesday night.
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