For the first six minutes and 21 seconds of the matchup between New England and Great Plains, it appeared the noon crowd at Bloomington Ice Garden was in for a fast-paced battle between skilled squads. 

Then New England's Billy MacAusland scored, and the boys from the northeast corner never looked back, sending Great Plains into running time during pieces of the third period in an 8-2 victory. 

William Belle and Aaron Obobaifo also scored for New England in the first period before Great Plains partially stopped the bleeding with a goal from Andrew O'Neill.

The two goals scored by New England in the second period secured the momentum on its side, with Justin Graf and Myles Brosnan tacking on fourth and fifth goals and squashing any chance of a Great Plains comeback. 

William Belle, Jake Tavares, and Van Martin continued the goal-parade for New England in the third period, as the second Great Plains goal came from Mason Jenson with 6:55 to play in regulation. Belle earned Player of the Game honors after scoring twice and adding an assist in the win.  

No lead is safe in The Show. 

Great Lakes sprinted past Team USA for just over two periods, stretching its lead to 5-1 with under 10 minutes to play in regulation and seemingly having shaken off the dust from Tuesday's heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Minnesota. 

However, a dominant future victory was derailed by a spirited comeback attempt by Team USA, which scored three times in the final 10:08 of the third period to pull within one at 5-4 before falling just short.

Special teams were key in the first period for Great Lakes, as Isaac Sabel netted a shorthanded goal and Ben Slifko added a powerplay tally before Team USA's Jackson Schroeder cut the 2-0 lead in half to send the game into the second period at 2-1. Samuel Anderson and Mateo Nunag scored for Great Lakes in the second, and the aforementioned 5-1 lead was attained on a goal by Nathan Antii. 

The Team USA comeback began with a goal by Gurkaranvir Otal, followed by scores from Tre Peck and Wyatt Herres. Peck finished with three total points in the game, having assisted on the Schroeder and Otal goals.     

Rocky Mountain was certainly riding high after sneaking past Team Minnesota 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday. 

The team predominantly populated with players from the Centennial State has been something of a green monster through two days of competition, proving they can win big (Tuesday's 7-1 win over North America), and win small in this game's case. 

Rocky Mountain's Coen Schmeichel tallied the first goal of the game with just 56 seconds to play in the second period, and the score was tied by Ryder Betzold's second shorthanded goal in as many games midway through the third period. 

The three-on-three play opened the ice in the extra session, but like so many overtime games before it, this contest came down to a greasy goal. Logan Anderson banged in the winning goal from the crease for Rocky Mountain, earning the hog-pile hug that followed, as did the Player of the Game honor.   

It was close until it wasn't. 

New England showed no fatigue from its 11:45 dubbing of Great Plains and leaned heavily on the accelerator Wednesday night, physically and skillfully wearing down North America for three periods. 

A four-goal first period was followed by a six-goal second, as William Belle continued his torrid scoring pace with three goals in the two periods. Belle, Jake Tavares, Egan Beveridge, and Billy MacAusland all tallied goals for New England in the first, all scoring within 6:25 of each other. 

Three of New England's six goals in the second frame came on special teams, as Beveridge notched a powerplay goal and Belle and MacAusland scored on the penalty kill. Belle also scored five-on-five, and Van Martin and Myles Brosnan added to the New England barrage. The lone goal of the second period for came from Mason West. 

New England's Justin Graf earned the lone goal of the third period for the final score of 11-1, as Graf and his teammates showcased speed and depth throughout the win.  

Another game, another dramatic finish for Rocky Mountain, which slipped past Team USA 6-4 to make their record 3-0 through Wednesday night. 

Team USA's Tre Peck and Rocky Mountain's Brady Smith traded goals in the first period to send the game into the second knotted at 1-1, where it took less than five minutes for Team USA's Emmet Reiter to put his team up 2-1. The lead was short-lived as Dimitri Tioumentsev tied the game at 2-2 for Rocky Mountain. Team USA's Jackson Schroeder scored his second goal of the day to take back the lead, but successive goals from Carter Ganser, Logan Anderson, and Sawyer Graubins put Rocky Mountain ahead for good. 

Reiter scored again in the third to make the score 5-4 Rocky Mountain, but Ganser deposited the puck into an empty Team USA net for the cementing 6-4 score. 

Rocky Mountain goaltender Harry Boettiger made a key save late in the game, denying Team USA's Tre Peck on a breakaway chance, sprawling to his right and laying out his right pad for the stop. 

To Team USA's credit, all three losses have been close, with two one-goal defeats on top of Wednesday night's two-goal loss to Rocky Mountain.  

Great Plains has a thing for eight-goal totals. 

11 hours after suffering a hefty 8-2 loss to New England, Great Plains took out their frustrations on Team Minnesota, hanging eight goals on their inter-state brethren in an 8-4 win to cap the second day of competition. 

Rowan Vaughn led the charge with a hat-trick, swooping and sliding his way through and around the Team Minnesota defense for his first three goals of the tournament.

Two of Vaughn's goals came in the first period, along with Great Plains tallies from Parker Deschene and Gavin McNeil. Team Minnesota's Dylan Otten stemmed the tide with a goal near the end of the first period, making the score 4-1 entering the second. 

Sam Schulte and Ryder Betzold scored back-to-back goals to open the second to pull Team Minnesota within one at 4-3, but Great Plains' Vaughn notched his hat-trick to extend the lead back to two. 

Mason Jenson, Gavin McNeil, and Owen Corkish all racked up goals for Great Plains in the third period, in which the boys in cream and black flirted with sending Team Minnesota into running time as the lead fluctuated. Otten scored the lone goal for Team Minnesota in the third period. 

Although the eight goals may take the spotlight, the defensive play of Cullen Ingebritson and goaltending of Fuzz Aafeldt made the difference in the end. Ingebritson made a diving play across the goal crease to halt a Team Minnesota shot, while Aafeldt came through with several big saves throughout the game.