OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. – The Oklahoma City Warriors, proud members of the NA3HL, completed a grueling six-game homestand throughout the span of seven days last week, taking on two of the top-10 teams in the league with the Texas Brahmas and Phoenix Inferno.
The busy stretch started on Oct. 24, against the Texas Brahmas, where the Warriors fell 5-1. Texas forward Caleb Carlance opened up the scoring at 5:20 of the first period on the power play, where the Warriors’ shorthanded unit was put to quite the test and ended up going 4-of-5 through the first 20 minutes. In the second period, Peyton Deperno, Caleb Carlance and Logan Chesna each tacked on even-strength goals to make the game 4-0 through two periods of play. In the third period, Carlance completed the hat-trick to make it 5-0 on the power play, but Carter Kelley spoiled the shutout bid with London McDougall and Carter Halling picking up assists for the 5-1 final. Tyler Miller stopped 52-of-57 shots in the Warriors’ effort, and Gavin Erickson stopped 16-of-17 in the Brahmas’ win.
Similar to the prior night, it was a penalty-filled first period for the Warriors on Oct. 25, but the Brahmas couldn’t capitalize on the man advantage on any of their four attempts. Robert Paliansky, Tyler Conrad and Drew Reiger each tallied goals to make it 3-0 after the opening frame. In the middle period, Titan Horton and Benjamin Humphreys each added tallies to make it 5-0, where Tyler Miller would come in relief for Nicholas Gormish in net after stopping 25-of-30 in his efforts. After the swap, Horton tacked on his second of the contest to secure the 6-0 final, as Miller stopped 12-of-13 in relief, blanking the Brahmas in the final frame.
Closing out the first series in the busy week, the Brahmas secured another 6-0 victory on Oct 26, holding the Warriors to just five shots on goal throughout the contest. In the first period, Texas came out swinging with 21 shots on goal, but only one found the back of the net as Jason Fatta capitalized on the power play to make it 1-0 through the first. In the second period, the Brahmas added two goals from John Scharf to make it 3-0 after the second. In the third period, Dayne Kauffman and Tyler Conrad joined the goals column before Fatta added his second to secure the 6-0 final. Sean Biebrich stopped 63-of-69 shots faced for a .913 save percentage in the Warriors efforts.
After a much-needed Tuesday off, the second half of the six-game homestand resumed on Wednesday, Oct. 28, where the Phoenix Inferno came into town following their trio of games against the New Mexico Ice Wolves. With 3:18 remaining in the first period, Trevor Grazier opened the scoring on the man advantage, making it 1-0 through one period of play. In the second period, Phoenix put more ink on the scoresheet with goals from JC Greenwood, Kash Benson and Trevor Grazier’s second of the contest giving the Inferno a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes. In the third period, goals from Brayden Macmillan, Nicholas Nunez and a pair from Chase Olson served to be the exclamation point securing an 8-0 final score. Tyler Miller stopped 45-of-53 shots faced in the Oklahoma City effort, where Ryder Ness stopped 16-of-16 in the Inferno win.
Thursday’s contest saw improvement from the Warriors in a 7-3 loss on Oct. 29. Camden Babin’s shorthanded goal put the Inferno on the board first at 11:39 of the first period, then Chase Olson would double the lead at 4:45, making it 2-0 through 20 minutes of play. Kash Benson at 19:05 and Nicholas Nunez at 12:59 both tacked on goals in the middle frame. London McDougall broke the goose egg at 6:21, with assists from Carter Kelley and Carter Halling to cut the lead down to 4-1. Later in the period, King McDougall cut the lead down to 4-2 through two periods. In the third period, Phoenix came out with a chip on their shoulders getting goals from Colin Digel, Trevor Grazier and one on the powerplay from Brayden Macmillan to put them ahead 7-2. London McDougall added his second of the game at 4:05 in the final frame of regulation to secure the 7-3 final. Sean Biebrich stopped 53-of-60 shots faced in the Oklahoma City effort, and Austen Gearhart denied 9-of-12 shots faced.
Friday, Oct. 30 marked the last leg of the grueling homestand, where the Inferno completed the series sweep in a 5-1 win. Oklahoma City had a much better first period than the previous games, where Braxton Doherty opened up the scoring off an assist from former-Inferno forward Andrew Robles making it 1-0 at 11:49. Camden Babin capitalized on the powerplay to even the game 1-1, then Chris Pellatt made it 2-1 to round out the first period. Kash Benson and Brayden MacMillan added even strength goals and then Stas Ershov added another power play tally in the second, securing the 5-1 final. Neither team found the back of the net in a penalty-filled third period. Tyler Miller stopped 11-of-13 shots in his effort and Nicholas Gormish stopped 26-of-29 in relief.
Oklahoma City will return to action on Nov. 6 to take on the West Texas Wranglers on the road. Puck drop from the Amarillo Ice Ranch in Amarillo, Texas is set for 7:14 p.m. CST, with the game being broadcast on NATV.
