RoadRunners sweep series with first place Texas

Richard Kelly

The Topeka RoadRunners showed some resiliency after going into the third period of Saturday’s game down by two goals.

After playing two evenly matched periods but trailing 3-1, Topeka (17-7-2) exploded with four straight goals, helping propel them to a 6-4 win over the Texas Tornado to sweep the weekend series with the top team in the North American Hockey League South Division.

Mason Miller registered his first goal of the season only 1:19 into the final frame to cut the deficit to one goal. Following a tying goal by Andrew O’Leary, Kyle Sharkey registered his second goal of the night, giving Topeka the lead at the 12:22 mark.

Nate Milam added cushion at 15:27 on a shorthanded goal, which proved to be the gamewinner after Texas (18-6-5) cut the lead to 5-4 at the 17:37 mark. However, an emptynet goal by Ryan White sealed the RoadRunners victory.

Rasmus Tirronen stopped 30 of 34 shots for Topeka to improve to 12-5-1 on the season. Jimmy Kruger stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced, falling to 11-2-3

Topeka has now won nine of their last 11 games and begins a four game homestand this weekend against the New Mexico Mustangs, who are coming off a 5-3 loss to the Amarillo Bulls. New Mexico is 0-9-3 on the road this season.

Faceoff for Friday’s match is 7:05 p.m.