Hounds Top Hunters

  Cam McClure gave the Hunters a 1-0 lead at 2:52 of the first period with Dylan Michaud and Joe Rukavina adding assists.  East answered at the 3:57 mark when Luke Dow scored from Nathanial Benson and Ryan Peterson, but before the opening period was over Denfeld went up 2-1 when Cody Budisalovich scored an unassisted goal at 11:33.

  East started generating better chances from the get-go in the second period by moving their legs and winning many of the races to loose pucks and that effort paid off with a goal at 4:42 from Brian Burton with Evan Little and Austin Crist assisting.  At 6:53 it was a goal from Ash Altmann with Nick Altmann and Dow assisting as East went up 3-2 on the scoreboard.  The Hunters returned the favor on a Jonah Williams from Ben Kidd goal on the power play at 15:19, but East took the lead for good with 29 seconds remaining in the period on a goal by Peterson with assists to Ash Altmann and Shay Donovan.

  Neither team scored in the third period, but both teams had chances to score late in the game with the best chance from the Hunter’s Nick Thompson who hit a crossbar with just over 10 seconds left in regulation.

  East goalie Kirk Meierhoff got the win with 17 saves, while Wes Cook made 32 saves in the loss for Denfeld.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com