Offensive explosion

Thief River Falls scored 15 goals overall, including 13 over its last two games to post a 2-0-1 record in the Ralph Engelstad Classic Dec. 27-29 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls. 

The Prowlers opened the three-day event with a come-from-behind 2-2 tie against the Chippewa Falls Cardinals. 

Chippewa Falls broke a scoreless tie with 7:43 left to play in the second period on a power play goal by Isaac Frenette. 

The Cardinals added to their lead 18 seconds into the third period on Frenette’s second goal of the night. 

Thief River Falls was already running out of time when things took a turn for the worse, when Ethan Janisch was called for a tripping penalty with 8:49 left to play. 

Forty seconds into the Chippewa Falls power play, Thief River Falls forward Hunter Larson scored a shorthanded goal to get the Prowlers to within one goal.

Thirty-eight seconds later, the Prowlers were still playing shorthanded when Aaron Myers scored to tie the game 2-2. The game remained knotted 2-2 for the remainder of the third period and through the overtime frame to give Thief River Falls its second tie of the season. 

It didn’t take long for Thief River Falls to assert itself against Northern Lakes in game two of the Ralph Engelstad Classic Thursday night. The Prowlers scored three goals in the first period and added four more in the second frame to crush the Lightning 7-0. 

Aaron Myers led the way with two first period goals. He also scored the first and last goals of the second period and added two assists to finish with six points for the contest. 

Brady Anderson’s goal with 19 seconds left in the first period made it 3-0 in favor of the Prowlers; and a pair of goals by Hunter Larson sandwiched between Myers’ third and fourth goals of the game rounded out the scoring for the Prowlers. 

Netminder Brandon Mack got the start and saved all 20 Northern Lakes shots on goal to pick up the win. 

On Friday afternoon, Thief River Falls picked up where it left off Thursday night with a 6-0 win over Fort Frances (Ontario). 

Myers scored his sixth goal of the tournament to break a 0-0 first period tie with 4:33 left before the first intermission. 

Cole Gillespie’s goal with 9:51 left in the second period put Thief River Falls in front 2-0. It also jump-started the Prowler offense, with Anderson, Myers and Bushy all adding goals over the next four minutes to take a 5-0 lead. 

Myers scored with 1:07 left in the game to record his second hat trick in as many games. He finished the three-game set with eight goals and three assists. 

Corneliusen returned to the net and saved all 19 shots on goal to earn a shutout victory. 

 

First Period – No scoring.

Second Period – Chippewa Falls, Isaac Frenette (Lucas Steinmetz) (PP) 9:17. 

Third Period – TRF, Hunter Larson (Brady Anderson) (SH) 9:53; TRF, Aaron Myers (Tucker Skime) (SH) 10:31. 

Overtime – No scoring. 

Shots – Chippewa Falls 7-9-6-5 – 27; TRF 9-6-5-10 – 30. 

Power plays – Chippewa Falls 1/4; TRF 0/47. 

Penalties – Chippewa Falls 4 (8 minutes); TRF 4 (8 minutes). 

Goalie saves – Chippewa Falls, Jaden Hoople 28 saves; TRF, Nick Corneliusen 25 saves. 

 

First period – TRF, Aaron Myers (Brady Anderson, Tucker Skime) 3:29; TRF, Myers (Anderson) 9:23; TRF, Anderson (Myers, Evan Bushy) (pp) 16:41. 

Second period – TRF, Myers (Bushy, Anderson) (PP) 0:53; TRF, Hunter Larson (Skime) (PP) 1:05; TRF, Larson (Bushy, Myers) 2:19; TRF, Myers (UA) 13:33. 

Third period – No scoring. 

Shots – Northern Lakes 7-10-3 – 20; TRF 23-13-6 – 42. 

Power plays – Northern Lakes 0/6; TRF 3/8. 

Penalties – Northern Lakes 8 (19 minutes); TRF 6 (12 minutes). 

Goalies – Northern Lakes, Wyatt Fink 8 saves, Jake Arnold 27 saves; TRF, Brandon Mack 20 saves.  

 

First period – TRF, Aaron Myers (Tucker Skime, Brady Anderson) 12:27. 

Second period – TRF, Cole Gillespie (Anderson) 7:09; TRF, Anderson (Skime, Myers) 8:08; TRF, Myers (UA) 8:43; TRF, Evan Bushy (Anderson) (PP) 11:01. 

Third period – Myers (Anderson, Keadon Kempert) 16:53. 

Shots – Fort Frances 1-7-11 – 19; TRF 10-18-8 – 36. 

Power plays – Fort Frances 0/4; TRF 1/5. 

Penalties – Fort Frances 5 (10 minutes); TRF 4 (8 minutes). 

Goalies – Fort Frances, Darian Klem 30 saves; TRF, Nick Corneliusen 19 saves.