The Central Division #1 and #2 seeds faced off over the weekend in a best of 3 series for the Central Division Championship and right to go to St. Louis for the Fraser Cup. The West Bend Power took the first two games, 5-0 at Marathon Park on Friday and a 1-0 double overtime battle on home ice Saturday, advancing to the first Fraser Cup in franchise history.
There was no scoring in Friday’s game until 5:39 of the second period when Monte Goold scored an unassisted shorthanded goal to give the Power a 1-0 lead through two periods of play. The third period was all Power, with the visitors scoring 4 goals in a span of under 4 minutes. Bryce Garber started the scoring surge with his 30th goal of the season at 8:28. Owen Drake tallied the Power’s third goal at 6:29 off an assist from Max Mudge (30). Nik Johnson (16) lit the light at 5:28 off assists from Liam Fraser (6) and Zach Wolverton (17). Just 17 seconds later Odin Klebba scored an unassisted goal to seal the 5-0 victory and take game 1 of the series. Ian Kangas got the win and shutout in the Power victory, stopping all 28 Cyclone shots on goal. The Power had 32 shots on goal.
Saturday the capacity crowd at Kettle Moraine Ice Center was treated to a defensive battle with no scoring through regulation or the first overtime. It took a fifth period, and it was Jace Fitzgerald (18) who was able to beat Wausau’s Colin Lemanski at 16:47 of the second overtime for the 1-0 victory and Central Division Championship. He was assisted by Tommy Kundinger (11) and Teagan Scheurer (27). Ian Kangas got his second shutout victory of the weekend stopping all 34 Wausau shots on goal. The Power had 33 shots on goal.
The Kundinger Fluid Power player of the weekend is Ian Kangas with two shutouts, stopping 62 total shots on goal.
UP NEXT – FRASER CUP IN ST. LOUIS
The Power will play Wednesday, March 20 at 4:00pm CST against the Granite City Lumberjacks. The Power’s second game will be Friday, March 22 at 4:00pm CST against the Gillette Wild.
All games will be at the St. Peter’s Rec Plex and broadcast on NAHLTV. See complete NA3HL information below.
Fraser Cup Championship Tournament
The five divisional playoff champions and one wild card team will advance to the NA3HL Fraser Cup Championship Tournament, where they will play a two-game round-robin format followed by a semifinal and a championship game at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, MO from March 20-24. A round-robin format with two pools will be implemented, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semifinals, where they will then cross over to play the other top two teams from the other pool. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the Fraser Cup Final.
The wild card team will be the team losing in the divisional final round with the highest points percentage (win % in the NA3HL Standings) during the regular season compared to the other divisional final losing teams. The six teams that advance to the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament will be seeded 1-5 based on their division’s performance against other divisions at the NA3HL Showcase. The wild card team will be the 6th seed.
Pool A: (#1) Granite City Lumberjacks, (#4) West Bend Power, (#6) Gillette Wild
Pool B: (#2) Helena Bighorns (#3) Louisiana Drillers, (#5) Northeast Generals
Pool Play (All Times Central)
Wednesday, March 20: Granite City vs. West Bend Power, 4pm – Helena vs. Louisiana, 7pm
Thursday, March 21: Granite City vs. Gillette, 4pm – Helena vs. Northeast Generals, 7pm
Friday, March 22: West Bend Power vs. Gillette, 4pm – Louisiana vs. Northeast Generals, 7pm
Semifinals
Saturday, March 23: Pool A 1st place vs. Pool B 2nd place, 4pm – Pool B 1st place vs. Pool A 2nd place, 7pm
Championship
Sunday, March 24: Fraser Cup Final, 3pm
