by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
Sixty minutes was not enough time to decide Saturday’s Federal Prospects Hockey League Empire Division game between the Topeka Scarecrows and Indiana Sentinels.
The game was tied at two at the end of regulation and it remained knotted through the five-minute overtime period. The FPHL uses a three-shot shootout to break ties during regular season games.
Indiana was up first in the shootout with Ethan Esposito’s shot against Matt Lenz missing.
Topeka came up empty on the next two shots by Scott Coash and Steven Klinck, with Chris Curr defending both.
That set up Jay Buchholz for the Sentinals, with Buckholz shooting the eventual game-winner past Lenz.
Down 1-0 in the shootout and two misses already, the Scarecrows were down to their final shot. Cory Checco attempted to tie things up, but his shot was defended by Curr to secure the 3-2 win for the Sentinels.
The Scarecrows were coming off a 4-1 win Friday night at the Ralph Engelstad Arena and it looked early on like they would sweep the two-game series.
Avery Smith scored the only goal of the opening period with 2:21 remaining before the first intermission, with Trevor Lord on the assist.
The score remained 1-0 through the second period. Five and a half minutes into the third period, Klinck scored his 33rd goal of the season to give the Scarecrows a 2-0 lead, with Coash picking up the assist.
The Sentinels used a pair of third-period power play goals to tie the game at 2-2. Esposito scored the first just past the halfway point with 9:38 remaining in regulation. Six minutes later, Richard Colarusso scored the game-tying goal. Buchholz, Nolan Dawson, Bohdan Zinchenko and Cole Ouellette picked up third-period assists for the Sentinels.
Paid attendance of 2,199 for two-game neutral site series
A reported attendance of 1,125 watched Saturday’s three-hour and 30-minute overtime thriller that needed a shootout to determine a winner, while 1,074 watched Friday night’s game, which ended with a 4-1 win by Topeka.
Following the weekend series, Topeka is 21-19-5-6-0 (regulation win, regulation loss, overtime loss, overtime win and shootout win) with 80 points, currently sitting in fourth place in the FPHL Empire Division. Indiana is 10-34-4-0-3 with 40 points and currently sits in seventh place in the Empire Division.
The Minnesota Northern Lights FPHL expansion team will begin play in Thief River Falls in fall 2026.
Scoring
1 2 3 ot so T
Topeka 1 0 1 0 0-3 2
Indiana 0 0 2 0 1-1 3
First period – Topeka, Avery Smith (Tevor Lord) 17:39.
Second period – No Score
Third period – Topeka, Steven Klinck (Scott Coash) 5:36; Indiana, Ethan Esposito (power play) (Jay Buchholz, Nolan Dawson) 10:22; Indiana, Richard Colarusso (power play) (Bohdan Zinchenko, Cole Ouellette) 16:20
Overtime – No Score
Shootout – Topeka, Scott Coash – No; Steven Klinck – No; Cory Checco – No; Indiana, Ethan Esposito – No; Jay Buchholz – yes.
Shots – Topeka 5-9-10-5 – 29; Indiana 6-6-9-5 – 27.
Power plays – Topeka 0-for-9; Indiana 2-for-13.
Penalties – Topeka 13 (28 minutes); Indiana 9 (18 minutes).