Magicians Open with a Win 3-2

Denis Shevyrin/Krefeld GER proved that he has not lost that short swing hard shot over the summer.  Last season with the Magic Men, Shevyrin scored more than one goal off a short swing shot that develops so much velocity on the puck that goalies feel they don’t see it.  He scored twice that way in the Magicians' opening game played Wednesday at the Showcase in Blaine.  On the first goal, Shevyrin carried the puck into the right Lone Star face off circle and fired a shot that was stopped immediately by a Lone Star defense man.  The puck went about a foot and bounced back to Shevyrin who took a short swing (about a foot) and blew the puck past the goalie.  He made it look simple.

In the second period, Shevyrin scored the game winner in a similar manner.  This time he centered a face off in the Lone Star zone right.  The face off was a draw with the puck bouncing at Shevyrin’s skates.  He made a little turn and snapped another one foot swinger into the upper right corner to put the Magicians up 3-2.  It was the game winner.

In the end, the game came down to Magician’s goalie Jens Vaughan Ahrens.  Ahrens struggled in the first period giving up two goals on a partial screens (one from the top of the right faceoff circle and one from the slot), but then settled in to zero the Brahmas the last 46 minutes of play (stopping 18 shots in the third period).  It was a nice win over Lone Star, a team that has improved over the summer.  Lone Star’s Anton Santesson/Angelholm SWE and Johan Steen/Stockholm SWE scored for the Brahmas; TJ Black/Chicago IL had a good game in the nets for Lone Star stopping 13 of the 16 Magician shots.  A number of the shots were close-in weak side and weak side reverse attempts.

NAHL Midwest Division Results

Besides the Magicians beating Lone Star, the Fairbanks lost to Wichita Falls 6-5 in overtime; the Cloquet MN based Minnesota Wilderness smoked the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 6-0 (behind Tyler Cline/Blaine MN’s three goals, Coulee Region beat Odessa 5-2, and Kenai River lost to Corpus Christi 5-2.  Thursday, Kenai River plays Lone Star, Coulee Region plays Rio Grande Valley, the Wilderness draws Corpus Christi, and Fairbanks plays Amarillo. 

The Magicians play Wichita Falls.  Shattuck grad Alex Falconer/Kohler WI, who posted 19 points/8 goals for the Prep’s national U18 Tier I champs last season, is off to a good start for Wichita Falls.  Two other Minnesota players, defenseman Matt Koch/Hastings and David Zevnik/Lakeville MN, are on the Wichita Falls roster.  Zevnik, winner of the 2013 Frank Brimsek award that goes to the top senior goalie in Minnesota High School hockey, was in the nets in the last period for Wichita Falls and got the win over Fairbanks Wednesday.  Zevnik could start Thursday night’s game against the Magic Men.

With one round of Midwest Division games in the bag, things look sketchy.  Looking ahead this weekend, Fairbanks and Coulee Region should do well and win their remaining games.  The Wilderness and the Magicians will have to work hard to winning their remaining three games at the Showcase.  Kenai River should beat Lone Star and Amarillo.  If the Brown Bears fall to either team, they will likely end the showcase with a 1-3 record.

Thursday’s games to watch-U16

The U16 schedule kicks off Thursday.  Twenty two U16 games will be played from 7:45 AM to 7:45 PM scattered on all eight rinks.  The 9:00 AM game between Omaha AAA 16U and Pursuit of Excellence is one to watch.  Baron Thompson (who made the New York trip last summer to the USA U15 Development Camp) will play for Omaha.  Thompson continues to grow and develop.  He is now a 15-year old 6’6” 200lb forward.  An YHH top 50 pick in 2012 when he played for the Apple Valley peewee A's, Thompson had a good USA tryout scoring 5 points/4 goals in 5 games.

At 9:45 AM, a team of all-stars from the Minnesota Elite Player Development League play the Pikes Peak Miners.  MEPDL team features Trevor Miklya/Eagan, Kyler Yeo and Dylan Mills/Hill-Murray, Spencer Ovshak/Moundsview, and goalies Ryan Bischel and Jason Stauber from Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

The Minnesota Magician’s U16 team makes its debut against Bauer-Emerson at 11:45 AM (Rink 3).  The Magicians have the young guns from Prior Lake’s 2012 peewee A championship team on its roster (Chase Gackle, Tanner Burggraaff, Ryan Murray, Jake Cohn, and goalie Kyle Nelson) augmented by Curtis Hansen and Connor Clemons.  Bauer-Emerson features five Minnesota players and one from Sidney, Austrailia-Connor Lee.  At 7:30 PM, the Magicians will play the MEPDL team, probably the most interesting game on the day matching talent picked from two different leagues.      

More notes on Wednesday’s play

Zach Driscoll/Eastview was in the net for Austin in the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Michigan Warriors.  Driscoll stopped 24 of 26 Michigan shots.  Fifteen of the 60 goalies (or 25%) on the NAHL team rosters at the Showcase are from Minnesota.  Andrew Lindgren/Eagan was in the nets for Corpus Christi in the IceRays 5-2 win over Kenai River.  Lindgren lost an 4-3 overtime game to Topeka in the IceRays season opener last week. 

Forward Blake Lizotte/Chisago Lakes led the Wildcats to the Class A state tourney last March in his sophomore season.  He jumped to the Minot Minotauros six months later along with Chase Springman and Austin Killian/New Prague.  Killian’s New Prague team beat Lizotte’s Chisago Lakes team in the Class A quarterfinals.  Late Wednesday, Janesville beat Minot 4-1 on Zach Lavalle’s two goals and one assist.  Lizotte and Killian did not score.  Christian Mohs/St. Louis Park MN got the only Minot goal.  Zack Lavalle/Hill-Murray is skating with Cullen Munson/Edina, and Mario Bianchi/Holy Angels for Janesville.