Note: I have had some medical problems in my family the past month and posting had to take a second seat in order to solve those problems.  Things are looking good now and I plan to get back to my normal posting.  There is a fondness here for the NAHL and what they bring to USA and now Minnesota Hockey.  It is great to see them in town playing for the Robertson Cup.  Though I would rather it be one of the three Minnesota NAHL franchises (Austin, Minnesota Magicians, or the Minnesota Wilderness), I can't complain.  There are still a good number of hockey players who learned through the Minnesota Hockey Organization on the ice at Braemar this weekend.  Good luck to all four teams.  I plan to be at the Championship finals Sunday taking pictures of the winning team skating with the Robertson Cup held high in front of their fans.  See you at Braemar where is always a good day to play hockey.

In the picture (above right) Aston's goalie Darion Hanson pauses a moment before Thursday's game with Fairbanks gets under way.  Hanson posted a 4.8 goals against average playing two seasons for St. Francis MN high school in the Mississippi 8 Conference.  Hanson will play for Union College in the fall of 2017.

The Ice Dog defense is led by Jakob Stridsberg/Jonkoping SWE and Alex Mehnert/Moorehead MN.  Stridsberg posted 45 points/12 goals in 57 regular season games and was a +28 on the ice.  Mehnert was the #2 scorer at defense and a +27.  Josef Ingman/Omsklodvik SWe (22 points and a +20) and Adam Kleven/Peoria AZ (15 points and a +20) were not far behind.  Luke Orysiuk/Edmonton AB, Marc Sullivan/Eden Prairie MN, and Aaron McPheters/Anchorage AK complete the defensive corps for the Ice Dogs.  Sullivan, who played for the Eden Prairie in the 2015 Class AA State Tourney, has posted 9 points/4 goals in 43 games with the Ice Dogs this season.  Mehnert, who will play college hockey at the Air Force, has posted 37 points/9 goals in 53 games at defense this regular season.  Both Sullivan and Mehnert have yet to get rolling in the playoffs in their first season playing Junior A hockey.  Fairbanks’ goalie Gavin Nieto/Yorba Linda CA has been in the nets for all five playoff games posting a 6-3 record giving up an average of 1.7 goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on net.  Nieto has been extremely consistent in the nets for the Ice Dogs this season.  In 39 regular season games he has posted identical stats (1.7 goals and 93% saves).  That is remarkable consistent play.

The Aston Rebels won the East Division title beating Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the Johnstown Tomahawks in the process.  The Rebels were led this past season by Michael Merulla/Kennett Square PA.  Merulla posted 55 points/24 goals in 48 games at Aston this year.  Merulla centers the Rebels’ first line out with Ryan Cusin/Westland MI and Dom Garcia/Las Vegas NV.  Cusin was the Rebels #2 scorer with 50 points/14 goals in 48 games.  Drew Blackmun, former St. Paul Academy star, centers a line with Russian Evgeny Yakoviev and Eric Carreras/West Chester PA.    Austin Swingle/Sartell skated wing for the Rebels in Thursday night’s opener.  Swingle skated for St. Cloud Cathedral.  Former St. Francis star goalie, Darion Hanson/East Bethel MN, was in the nets for Aston in Thursday’s opening game.

Five minutes into the game, Aston’s Dom Garcia score on a power.  Gvido Jansons put a hard shot on Gavin Nieto that resulted in a hard rebound to Garcia.  Garcia one-timed the rebound past Nieto to put the Rebels up 1-0.  Reggie Lutz/Elk River MN scored the tying goal with two minutes left in the second period.  Lutz teamed with linemate Tyler Tomberlin/Andover MN on a 2-on-1 rush.  Lutz made a neat pass to Tomberlin in the high right slot who returned the puck to Lutz in the low left slot area.  Lutz one-timed the puck past Hanson to tie the game 1-1.  Halfway through the third period, Lutz combined with defenseman Adam Kleven to score the winning goal.  Kleven beat the defense at the right blue line and put a hard shot on the Aston net.  Rebel goalie Darion Hanson made a tough stop on the shot but the puck rebounded to the left to Lutz who blasted the shot past a diving Hanson glove save attempt for the winning goal.  Hanson stopped 24 of 26 Ice Dog shots in the loss and will be playing college hockey Union College in the ECACHL.  Nieto stopped 29 of 30 Rebel shots.  He will join Hanson in the ECACHL but will play for Brown University. 

One minute into the first period, Bismarck’s Oskars Batna/Latvia scored to put the Bobcats up 1-0.  Two minutes later, Jake Dalton/Saginaw MI tied the game 1-1.  Dalton will play college hockey at Bowling Green.  Willie Brown/South St. Paul MN, former Hill-Murray and Inver Grove Heights peewee, scored two minutes into the second period to put Bismarck up 2-1.  As in the opening period, the Wichita Falls scored quickly after Brown’s goal to tie the game 2-2.  Wichita’s Ryan Burnett/Brighton MI got the score.  The game remained tied through the rest of the second and third periods until Burnett got the game winner with less than three minutes to play.  Bismarck’s Hunter Shepard/Grand Rapids MN stopped 39 of 42 Wichita Falls shots.  Shepard will be playing for UMD next fall.  Wichita Fall’s goalie Justin Kapelmaster/Coral Springs FL stopped 21 of 23 Bobcat shots in the win.  Kapelmaster will play next year in the WCHA.  Kaplemaster will play for Ferris State.