Photo Credit: Bruce Rose
The Texas Roadrunners have become the third team in the NA3HL to move on to the Fraser Cup Playoffs. With a weekend sweep of the Bayou State Rougarou the Runners will return to post season action.
January 2026
by Liam Forrest, Melissa Dwyer, Samantha Bowen
Bayou State 3 @ Texas (R) 12 – If Friday night of hockey was absent of goals for your team, never fear because the Texas Roadrunners put on a show on home ice against the Bayou State Rougarou by lighting the lamp 12 times. The club continues to dominate the standings with 26-9-0 on their record so far. For their game over Bayou State, the Roadrunners opened the scoring and put in four unanswered before the period concluded. Logan Diskey lit the lamp first, and then Brady Warrington and Jayden Hitt followed, as Diskey scored again before the first buzzer. In the second Jacob Brown got things started and made it five-nothing. But then three minutes later, Kamdyn Smith responded and broke the shutout dreams for Texas. However, their attempt would be met with a retaliation, as Will Dyker sauced one to Nathan Pickett to bury one. Ten minutes later, though, the Rougarou tried to muster more goals regardless of what the scoreboard said. In back-to-back settings, Evan McCreary put in two goals just a minute apart. His team still trailed, and would continue to even more, as Anthony Riviello responded after burying Kurtis Brachlow’s rebound. In the third, the Roadrunners went out with a bang and racked up five more, as seven goals simply wasn’t good enough. At 16:25, Vincent Campbell launched one in while empty-handed. Then a minute later, Memphis Palmer added more with Jayden Hitt helping out. Shortly after, Dyker chimed in and added another. And before wrapping it up, Williams Heskett would jailbreak one past Bayou State’s goaltender and pick up a ‘shorty. But he wasn’t done just yet. 18 seconds after the ‘shorty, Heskett blasted the biscuit past the net right off the center ice faceoff to call it a game.
Bayou State 2 @ Texas (R) 3 – In a change of events from Friday night’s 12-goal thriller, the Texas RoadRunners narrowly fought off the Bayou State Rougarou on Saturday evening. The RoadRunners found their way onto the scoreboard first thanks to a goal by Kurtis Brachlow . Two minutes later, Will Heskett would continue his point-per-game streak by also scoring for Texas. But 46 seconds before the buzzer ending the first period, Denis Portnoy would sneak one in after chopping Landen Crall’s rebound. Late into the second, Heskett would once again deliver another goal to his tally by extending the lead to two for the home team. However, Crall would respond with a goal himself and put Bayou State within reach. The game had shifted significantly since the night before, as neither club would score again. So therefore, the Roadrunners dodged a bullet and took this game once more.
Bayou State 3 @ Texas (R) 5 – The Texas RoadRunners completed the weekend sweep Sunday night with the home victory over the Bayou State Rougarou by a score of 5-3. Texas showed their dominance in the home-series against the Rougarou, fueled by an explosive offense that pushed the Roadrunners to the victory. Logan Diskey was able to break the ice in the affair, finding the back of the net off the assist from William Dyker to give Texas the 1-0 lead. Bayou State answered back with a tally of their own, Peyton Essex grabbing the powerplay goal off the assist from Denis Portnoy. Less than a minute later, Texas stole back the lead with another goal from Diskey to make it a 2-1 game. Early in the second, the Rougarou once again found the equalizer as Gavin Vernarsky was able to put it home off the feeds from Evan McCreary and Kamdyn Smith. Yet once again, the RoadRunners quickly fired back as Michael Garrett took back the lead with a goal off the passes from Joseph Izzo and Jacob Brown. In the third, Izzo stretched the game to a 4-2 lead with a score of his own with the assist from Vincent Campbell, trying to take control in the last frame of the game. Anthony Riviello added onto the lead for Texas, finding the back of the net to make it a 5-2 game, the assists from Diskey and Quinn Mayo. Portnoy was able to close the gap late in the third off the assist from Nathan Daniels, making it a 5-3 final score in the game. With this win, the RoadRunners have officially clinched a spot in the 2026 Fraser Cup playoffs.
“We were looking to get back to the post season this year and it’s been quite a roller coaster ride so far this season. We have made some big trades and had our bumps and bruises and hopefully we finish strong over the next couple months and secure home ice advantage for at least round one. I don’t think we played to our full potential the past two games and we really don’t have more than a day or so to regroup and host the Brahmas on Wednesday at 3:00 PM. We will have a couple down weeks to circle the wagons and drill down on some things we will need going down the stretch. We have one of the toughest stretches in the league coming up with eight of our last ten games vs the Brahmas and Drillers.” States Roadrunners Head Coach Mike Beavis
The Runners need four more points to secure second place over the Carolina Rage. The Runners can seal their own fate with two wins or Carolina could drop two of their remaining fourteen games. The Runners know the importance of home ice advantage in the playoffs and are pushing to get there.
The Runners will face off VS the Brahmas this Wednesday at 3 pm at “Spirit Ice Arena” in College Station, TX. Be sure to catch all the action live or as always on NATV.com