Game #59: Tucson Roadrunners (6) vs Texas Stars (3)
Game #59: Tucson Roadrunners vs Texas Stars
SOG: TUC (30) – TEX (35)
PP: TUC (1/4) – TEX (1/4)
TEXAS SCORING: Matej Blumel (25), Cody Haiskanen (3), Mavrik Bourque (23)
TUCSON SCORING: Travis Barron (8), Josh Doan (23,24), Aku Raty (13), Ben McCartney (4), Vladislav Kolyachonok (7)
25 years ago there a was future Tucson Roadrunners forward who was born by the name of Travis Barron. On Sunday, he would score a goal that makes hockey look like it is an easy sport, something that it is not. Barron added a goal to bring his year total to eight assisted by Curtis Douglas and Cameron Hebig; playing together on a line tabbed as the team’s “Identity Line” by Head Coach Steve Potvin.
DON’T OVERLOOK IT
WE’RE NOT MATH MAJORS – We’re not math majors here at Tucson Roadrunners HQ, but we are pretty sure having multiple-point scorers is a positive for any hockey team. The Tucson Roadrunners have 15 multiple-point scorers in their last five games. Four of those 15 came in Sunday afternoon’s contest against Texas: Steven Kampfer (3 assists), Josh Doan (2 goals), Cam Crotty (2 assists), and Jan Jenik (2 assists).
LOOK AT THIS
Forward Josh Doan smiles after scoring his second goal of the contest in Sunday afternoon’s matchup against the Texas Stars. Doan scored his second goal on the power-play and raised his season goal total to 24. That number of 24 makes Josh Doan the AHL’s current leading goal scorer among rookies. Add Doan’s 20 assists to his 24 goals and the 44 points also ranks first among rookies.
THEY SAID IT
“This is a division that is always competitive, this homestand is huge to get eight points out of eight available. We enjoy winning the hard ones and can hopefully keep it going moving forward. We take pride on winning on the road and have to take advantage of the road-trip moving forward,”
Forward Josh Doan following Tucson’s 6-3 win over Texas on Sunday afternoon.
THE RUNDOWN
Travis Barron started the St. Patrick’s Day party off 16:51 into the first period of Sunday afternoon’s contest with the Texas Stars scoring a goal and giving the Roadrunners the 1-0 lead early. Cameron Hebig and Curtis Douglas assisted Barron on the play. Barron’s goal was one of just six shots for the Roadrunners in the period. Texas, on the other hand, had 12 shots, all of which were saved by Tucson netminder Dylan Wells. Wells finished the night with 32 saves against his former team.
Texas would answer back with a goal in the second to knot things up 1-1. The score remained 1-1 for most of the period until the final 13 seconds in which Josh Doan, Tucson’s leading scorer, added to his season point total and scored the go-ahead goal for the Roadrunners. Doan, who is a big fan of scoring goals, made sure he himself slid past the crease and into the goal along with the puck. Cam Crotty and Jan Jenik assisted Doan on the goal.
Josh Doan would pick up the third period exactly where he left off the second; scoring a goal and adding to his point total but this time on the power-play 0:33 seconds into the third. The power-play goal would give the Roadrunners a 3-1 lead and give Captain Steven Kampfer and Aku Raty assists. Doan and Raty would become multiple point scorers on the play. Aku Raty would get a goal of his own just under five minutes after Doan’s power-play goal. Raty would make the game 4-1 at the 5:11 mark of the third. Milos Kelemen and Cam Crotty would pick up assists, the second of the evening for Crotty. Two and a half minutes later it would be Ben McCartney who would add to the Roadrunners lead. McCartney scored his fourth goal of the season and was assisted by Justin Kirkland and Vlad Kolyachonok. The 5-1 lead wouldn’t stop Texas from putting up a fight as the Stars would add two goals in three minutes and bring the game to a 5-3 score. Texas would pull their goalie late and surrender an empty net goal to Vlad Kolyachonok in the final five seconds of the game. Steven Kampfer and Jan Jenik both picked up their second assists on the Kolyachonok goal.
