The Breezy Point North Stars and Willmar WarHawks were struggling along with just eight wins total in 52 combined games when they arrived at the North American 3 Hockey League Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota.
Both teams enjoyed a break from the grind of the West Division, going 3-0 at the showcase.
The North Stars and WarHawks were part of the West’s 18-3 record at the showcase with five teams posting 3-0 records.
Cooper Hoheisel’s first-period hat trick helped Breezy Point finish Tuesday with a 7-3 win over the Wausau River Wolves.
Earlier, the North Stars beat the NAPHL Selects 3-1 and the Yellowstone Quake 4-2. Nick Eddens had two goals against the Selects and Dylan Rumpke had two against the Quake.
Between 7-1 and 10-1 victories, Willmar pulled out a 2-1 overtime win over the Butte Cobras on a Campbell Jackson one-timer.
Willmar outshot Butte 48-8 in the overtime win.
The Granite City Lumberjacks, North Iowa Bulls and New Ulm Steel also went 3-0 from the West.
A total of nine teams made it through the 38-team event with perfect records. The others were the St. Louis Blues, Peoria Mustangs, Coulee Region Chill and Texas Brahmans.
STREAKING ALONG: Hank Crone, a University of Denver prospect from Dallas, Texas, extended his scoring streak with a big week for the United States Hockey League’s Fargo Force.
Crone had six points and was plus-6 in the three games. He had a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over the Sioux City Musketeers Dec. 11, then two goals and an assist in a 5-0 shutout of the Tri-City Storm Saturday. Crone had another assist Sunday in a loss to the Storm.
Now the league’s second-leading scorer, Crone is riding a 10-game point-scoring streak. The fourth-year USHL player has seven goals and 26 assists in 26 games.
Crone was the USHL’s third-leading scorer two years ago before playing at Boston University last season.
SPOTLESS DEBUT: Alec Calvaruso won his first three games for the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede, posting a 1.21 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in the process.
The 20-year-old from Livonia, Michigan, came on in relief Thursday and stopped all 10 shots he faced, paving the way for a come-from-behind overtime victory against the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Calvaruso then stopped 49 of 52 shots in a two-game weekend sweep of the Green Bay Gamblers to run the Sioux Falls winning streak to four games.
JUST ONE: Josh Langford of the Chippewa Steel and Matt Vernon of the Aberdeen Wings each faced more than 60 shots and allowed just one goal in a pair of weekend North American Hockey League wins.
Longford stopped 64 of 65 shots in 125 minutes. He followed up 36 saves in regulation and overtime by stopping all three shootout attempts in a 1-0 win over the Kenai River Brown Bears Friday.
Vernon earned his second straight Central Division Star of the Week Award for making 61 saves while helping the Wings stretch their winning streak to seven.
COLLEGE COMMITMENTS: Recent college commitments from the USHL include Des Moines Buccaneers forward Reed Lebster to the University of Massachusetts and Dubuque Fighting Saints defenseman Chris Lipe to Michigan Tech.
Lebster, a 20-year-old from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the third-leading scorer on the Buccaneers. He has 13 goals and nine assists in 25 games during his third season with the team.
Lipe, a 19-year-old from Rockford, Michigan, was acquired from Des Moines prior to the start of the season. He has seven points this season and is tied for the team lead at plus-10.
Caleb Price, a defenseman for the NAHL’s Jamestown Rebels, has committed to Arizona State University for the 2020-21 season.
The 18-year-old from Hooksett, New Hampshire, has a goal and nine assists in 19 games.
ONE-TIMERS: Kyler Head scored two goals and Brandon Perrone posted a shutout Tuesday afternoon when the New Jersey Titans went on the road and beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights 2-0 … Samir Abouelhana scored four times off George Vonakis assists when the Philadelphia Little Flyers won twice at the Eastern Hockey League December Showcase.
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
