Thursday, May 5, 2011

Bulls, Ice Dogs move to 2-0 at Robertson Cup

Press Release

The West Division champion Fairbanks Ice Dogs (2-0) and South Division champion Amarillo Bulls (2-0) skated to wins on the second day of the three-day round-robin portion of the North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Robertson Cup Championship Tournament on Wednesday at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kan.

In the Bulls’ 4-3 victory over the NAHL’s regular-season champion and host Topeka RoadRunners (0-2), defenseman Karl Beckman connected for a pair of goals, and forward Dan Sherer struck for the game-winner. In goal, netminder Nikifor Szczerba made 26 saves.

View the box score here.


Down 2-0 after two periods, the Ice Dogs rattled off four unanswered goals in the third to win the first game of the day over the North Division champion Michigan Warriors (0-2). Forward Tayler Munson struck for two goals in the victory, including the game-winner, and netminder Joe Phillippi turned aside 21 shots.

View the box score here.

In the third and final day of the round robin, the Ice Dogs will take on the Bulls at 4:05 (CST) and the RoadRunners will face off against the Warriors (7:35 p.m.).

At the conclusion of the round robin, the team with the most points will earn an automatic berth to the championship game, which will be played on Saturday. The second- and third-place teams will play in the semifinal game on Friday, and the fourth-place team (fewest points) will be eliminated from the tournament.

The Robertson Cup crowns the playoff champion of the NAHL and USA Hockey's Tier II national champion.
(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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