Kelsey Wagers

Washburn Review

The Runners were back in town this past weekend, sporting their breast cancer awareness pink jerseys against The Odessa Jackalopes.

Maybe it was practice, maybe it was the team coming together, or maybe it was the luck of the hot pink jerseys, but in any case, the Runners were on fire this weekend.

In the first period, the RoadRunners made four of the five goals of the night. The first goal was made just 22 seconds after puck drop by forward Tyler Irvine who made a quick slap shot to the back of the net.

“We put them on heels early and that’s our game plan,” said Roadrunners head coach Scott Langer. “Our guys responded, we had a few opportune goals. I thought our guys played a good hockey game.”

The second goal of the night was made by forward Willie Brown in an unassisted play where the swept the puck behind the goalie’s right leg with 5:44 left on the clock.

“They played hard; they are a decent hockey team,” said Langer. “Sometimes when you have that big of a lead, it’s tough to maintain it, but I thought they pushed hard and our guys responded.”

The third and fourth goals of the night made by forward Same Rennaker and defensemen Ran Polin on power plays with 4:09 and 2:27 left on the clock

“It loosens a team up to jump on the other team early and as a coach you’d like to see it consistent for 60 minutes but you’re never going to get that at this level. It’s extremely tough” said Langer. “But our guys played well. They didn’t give up a ton of opportunities, which is good. And I thought they generated opportunities.”

Compared to the first period, the second was rather uneventful though Odessa slipped the puck past the RoadRunners’ goalie and into the back of the net with 13:34 remaining.

In the third period the Jackalopes scored first with 15:01 remaining but were unsuccessful with their penalty shot.

Forward Mike Gornall scored the final goal of the game with 4 minutes on the clock, ending Saturday’s game 5-2.

Sunday’s game proved to be just as eventful with three successful shots by forwards Carlos Fornaris, Beau Dommer and Tyler Irvine in the first period.

Just 4:50 into the second period, RoadRunner goalie Matej Tomek was seen kneeling on the ice from what looked like an injury. Tomek left the ice under his own power but looked to be in discomfort. The injury is still undisclosed. Drew Vogler relieved him, ending in a scoreless period.

Irvine made his second goal of the night in the third period with 12:56 remaining on the clock.

The last minute of the game was a definite nail bitter. With a “no good” call made on what would have been the fifth goal of the night with 14:07 seconds on the clock. But the Runners were determined to put 5 on the board and slapped it in with just 2 seconds remaining in the game, ending the game in a 5-0 shutout.

“Our older guys are doing a real good job of bringing the younger guys on board and I think we are getting along really well,” said Langer. “I think they are right on par in the process of where you need to be at this time in the season.”

The next home game will be Nov. 21 against the Springfield Junior Blues at 7:05 p.m.