The Texas RoadRunners are all geared up for the 2019-2020 NA3HL Showcase in Blaine MN. December 15th – 17th at the Schwan Super Rink. The team will board the bus Saturday morning and head to Dallas for their flight to Blaine. “The guy’s are really excited and are eager to get things going in the showcase.” states Runners coach Ryan Scheide. The team was back at work this week after taking three of six points on the road VS the Mid Cities Stars last weekend in Euless, TX.
In a weekend where Jaeger Reed was called up to Odessa in the NAHL the team met divisional rivals the Mid Cities Stars up in Euless, TX. On Friday evening the Runners got off to a bad start on the weekend dropping game one to the Stars.
TX Roadrunners 1 @ Mid Cities 8 – Carter Payton and Brady Nelson each netted twice to lead a potent Stars attack in an 8-1 win over the Roadrunners on Friday. Trevor Borlace grabbed the lone Texas goal, but more Mid Cities markers from Brandon Speights, Hunter Leonhard, Zach Perez and RJ Muckensturm helped overwhelm the visitors. Noah Kinsinger’s 29 saves earned the victory, outmatching a total of 27 stops from Cole Garver and Blake Forystek of Texas.
In game two on Saturday both teams battled to overtime before the Stars managed the victory. The Runners showed some good things in the contest but came up just short on grabbing a much needed win.
TX Roadrunners 3 @ Mid Cities 4 (OT) – Zach Perez came through as the Stars’ hero on Saturday, bagging the game-tying goal early in the third and the OT winner just over a minute into the extra frame to give Mid Cities the 4-3 win over the Roadrunners on Saturday. Petr Pokorny and Brenden Fehlig put Texas up early, but Payton Carter and RJ Muckensturm evened the affair midway through the second, before Logan Bellar added another for the Roadrunners late in the frame, setting up Perez’s third-period/OT heroics. Noah Kinsinger made 36 stops for the win, while Cole Garver faced down 44 for Texas.
In the final game of the weekend the Runners finally got on track to take the final two points on the weekend.
TX RoadRunners 6 @ Mid Cities 4 – The two teams traded goals for much of the game, but Trevor Borlace’s pair of strikes and Cole Garver’s 42 saves proved enough to give the RoadRunners a 6-4 win over the Stars on Sunday. Brenden Fehlig, Matthew McBride, Garrett Wilderman and Jakub Kovacka also scored for Texas, while RJ Muckensturm led Mid Cities with two, joining Zach Perez and Hunter Leonhard on the scoresheet. Kenton Kim made 31 saves for the Stars.
The Runners will face off at the showcase VS the Maine Wild on Sunday evening at 7pm CST. The Wild are in the Coastal division and currently have a record of 10-17-0-0 and are currently in 4th place in their division, “It will be great to match up against Jeff Tory and his team at the showcase. Jeff and I have known each other for some time and it’s always fun to face off against friends.” states Runners head coach Mike Beavis
In game two of the showcase on Monday at noon CST. The Runners match up against the Helena Bighorns who are currently in 7th place in the Frontier division with a 5-21-0-0 record.
In the final game for the Runners on Tuesday the team will face off against the Milwaukee Power who hold onto the 5th place in the Central division with a record of 6-2-0-0 Puck drop is 11:45 am CST.
All games from the NA3HL Showcase will be broadcast live on hockeytv.com The Runners will leave Blaine for the holidays but will return back to Bryan / College Station on Monday the 3oth of December to prepare for the second half of their season which kicks off Friday January 3rd at 5:30 pm CST. VS the Louisiana Drillers. The two teams will also play on Saturday January 4th at 6:15 pm CST. Both games will be held at the Spirit Ice Arena in Bryan / College Station, TX.
Happy and safe Holidays to all !!!