NORAD Draft Hockey League

ACE 6, Triple J 2

ACE wasted no time asserting control, scoring four times in the first period to build a lead Triple J never threatened. Nathan Watts opened the scoring on a goal assisted by Simon Kurtz, Kurtz added one of his own, and Owen Kalbfleisch made it 3-0 with what turned out to be the game-winner.

Triple J's Jason Judge got one back, but ACE answered right away, with Watts scoring his second of the period off a feed from Ethan Kalbfleisch to make it 4-1 at the first intermission. Kalbfleisch cashed in himself in the second period to make it 5-1, and after Kyle Cook got Triple J back on the board in the third, Sam Boudreault, who had been called for roughing earlier in the game, closed the scoring unassisted to seal the 6-2 final.

Watts finished with two goals, while Kurtz, a week removed from his four-goal night, and Ethan Kalbfleisch each had a goal and an assist. Brie Varney assisted on both Triple J goals, and Ian Gustafson picked up the win in net for ACE.

J&J Automotive 6, Nelson & Company 5

Jonathan Valtin saved his best for the third period. With J&J Automotive trailing 4-2 on the road, he scored three times in the final frame, including the go-ahead goal and the game-winner, to finish with four on the night and complete a stunning comeback.

The first period was a back-and-forth, with TJ Liebl and Josh Twitchell putting Nelson & Company in front twice, and Valtin and Travis Hinton answering each time to leave it tied 2-2. Liebl took over in the second, scoring once and then again with 25 seconds left in the period to make it 4-2 heading into the third.

Then came the turnaround. Valtin cut it to 4-3 early in the third, Sam Downs tied it at 4-4 just over three minutes later, and Valtin put J&J ahead 5-4 less than a minute after that. He added his fourth, assisted by Downs, with 4:23 left to make it 6-4. Gary Buck pulled Nelson & Company within one with 49 seconds to play, set up by Liebl, but that was as close as they got.

Liebl finished with three goals and an assist, a week after scoring four in Nelson & Company's 9-9 tie. Twitchell added a goal and an assist, and Thane Gilmore got the win in net for J&J.

OUTCAN Outlaws 4, World Orphans 2

The OUTCAN Outlaws did their damage early and made it stand. Dan Ennis scored first, assisted by Brody Keene, Samson Leifer added an unassisted goal, and Trevor Chavez's unassisted tally, which turned out to be the game-winner, made it 3-0 before the first period ended.

Casey Victor got the World Orphans on the board in the second to cut it to 3-1, but Tim Kuhl restored the three-goal cushion in the third on assists from Christopher Mihlon and Leifer. Marc Smith scored late for the World Orphans to make it 4-2, but the comeback never materialized.

Leifer had a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Chubbs earned his second straight win in net as OUTCAN followed last week's 4-2 victory over Platinum with another 4-2 result. It was an undisciplined night for the World Orphans, whose three penalties all went to Andre Wright, including a second-period misconduct. Neither team converted on the power play.

OS Offices 5, Parker Winnelson 4

Garrett Ashcroft's hat trick was the difference. He scored OS Offices' first goal of the game, added another early in the second period, and completed the hat trick, unassisted, later in the second to make it 5-2.

The first period was a wild one, producing five goals. Jeremy Lindemann made it 2-0 for OS Offices, Nate Flint cut it to 2-1, and Nicholas Cimino restored the two-goal cushion before Casey Kosley, set up by Nicholas Lang, made it 3-2 ahead of the intermission.

Parker Winnelson kept coming. Lang, assisted by Wylie Burnett and Jennifer Burnett, cut it to 5-3 in the second, and Josh Cronk made it 5-4 early in the third, but OS Offices held on the rest of the way. Cronk and Lang each had a goal and an assist, and Parker Winnelson got goals from four different players, but the team fell after tying back-to-back games in Weeks 8 and 9. It was also a clean game: all nine goals came at even strength and no penalties were called.

Platinum 9, Velodrome 2

Two weeks after winning a 1-0 pitcher's duel, Platinum didn't need any help from the goaltending this time. Austin Storm scored four times and Platinum rolled to a 9-2 win, bouncing back from last week's loss to OUTCAN. Storm opened the scoring in the first period, scored twice in 35 seconds early in the second, both set up by Jesse Chambless, and added a fourth in the third.

Platinum scored four times in the second period to build a 5-0 lead: Storm's pair, a goal from Chris Dube off a Matt Quinn assist, and an unassisted tally from Andrew Marshall. Joshua Blumberg made it 6-0 early in the third, and Velodrome finally got on the board through Kevin White and William Gagnon-Robitaille, but Dube added his second, Storm his fourth, and John Slaughter closed out the scoring.

Dube finished with two goals and Alex Considine with two assists. Brandon Ward earned the win in net, while John Rhode took the loss for Velodrome, which fell 5-4 to ACE a week ago.

The Big Picture

Week 10 put the spotlight on the individual: Valtin's four-goal comeback, Storm's four-goal night, hat tricks from Ashcroft and TJ Liebl, and a seven-goal statement from Platinum. The five games combined for 45 goals, and two of them came down to a single goal. Ten weeks in, this league keeps finding new ways to surprise.