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Junior Notebook: Wranglers Begin Quest for Revenge With Sweep

By Tom Robinson - Special to USA Hockey, 10/04/17, 6:15AM MDT

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In NA3HL, Metro Jets’ win streak ends

Wranglers Begin Quest for Revenge With Sweep

The Steamboat Wranglers came within one win of a championship in their first season in the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League.

The Wranglers came out hungry for their second season, winning two games on the opening weekend, including Saturday’s 4-2 victory over the Pikes Peak Miners in a rematch of last year’s finals.

Joel Rothman scored in each of the first two periods and the Wranglers allowed just one third-period shot Friday night when they opened with a 7-1 victory over the Colorado Rampage.

Cole Kohut had 22 saves in each of the first two games for the Wranglers.

John Coon had two goals Saturday in the win over the defending champion Miners.

STREAK OVER: Dominic Skrelja scored two goals Saturday night when the North Iowa Bulls posted a 7-2 road victory, ending a 57-game regular-season winning streak by the Metro Jets that dates back to late in the 2015-16 season.

Colin Cain made 33 saves in the win.

WARMING UP: The Sioux Falls Stampede, Chicago Steel and Youngstown Phantoms all went 3-0 as United States Hockey League teams went through their final preparations for the start of the regular season in the USHL Fall Classic, a preseason event held Wednesday through Sunday in Cranberry, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh.

The USA Hockey National Team Development Program went 2-0.

The other 13 USHL teams all lost at least once during the event.

Sioux Falls won on the first three days of the Fall Classic, beating the Green Bay Gamblers (5-3), Omaha Lancers (4-1) and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (5-4).

Defenseman A.J. Villella had two goals in the final win by the Stampede.

Chicago topped the Waterloo Black Hawks and Lincoln Stars, each by 4-1 scores, and Des Moines Buccaneers, 5-3.

The defending champion Steel will be looking to become the first team since Omaha in 1993 and 1994 to win consecutive Clark Cups.

Jack Dugan scored two goals against Des Moines.

Youngstown beat Waterloo (5-4), the Dubuque Fighting Saints (6-3) and Des Moines (6-5).

There were four hat tricks at the Fall Classic. Nicholas Cardelli from the Fargo Force had the first. The Sioux City Musketeers got hat tricks from Samuel Salonen and Sampo Ranta. Adam Goodsir from the Tri-City Storm got two of his goals in 5-on-3 situations in a 6-3 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

The USHL regular-season schedule opens Friday night with six games.

NAHL ROUNDUP: The Philadelphia Rebels, the North American Hockey League’s last remaining unbeaten team, improved to 6-0 with the help of the first points of the season by Carter Wooley.

The Rebels made their debut at their new home, the Class of 1923 Arena, with Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Johnstown Tomahawks.

Wooley had an assist in the Saturday win, then registered a goal and assist Sunday to complete the weekend sweep with a 5-2 victory.

Blake Ripley had goals in both wins and added the shootout winner in Friday’s 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Magicians to keep the Janesville Jets in the Midwest Division lead.

Brett Epp stopped 65 of 69 shots in a pair of weekend wins, including one in overtime, for the Odessa Jackalopes.

EHL ROUNDUP: Taylor Papesh of the Vermont Lumberjacks had a natural hat trick in the first 7:12 of Sunday’s 6-2 Eastern Hockey League win over the New England Wolves.

The New Hampshire Avalanche used three weekend wins to extend its winning streak to five games and improve to 6-1.

Jarrett Slear had two goals and three assists for the Avalanche in the three games.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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