NORAD Draft Hockey League

Five weeks in, and NORAD Hockey delivered its most one-sided night yet — with one performance that will be tough to top all season. Here's the full Week 5 breakdown.

Nelson & Company 7, Velodrome 3

Let's start with the headline. TJ Liebl scored SIX goals on the night, including a first-period hat trick, as Nelson & Company ran away from Velodrome 7-3. Liebl opened the scoring twice within the first seven minutes, completed his hat trick before the first period even ended, and just kept going — adding a fourth goal 70 seconds into the second period and a fifth early in the third to push the lead to 5-1.

Velodrome didn't fold quietly. Hayden Smith and Josh Simonds scored back-to-back in the third to cut the deficit to 5-3 and make things briefly interesting, but Liebl answered immediately with his sixth goal of the night to restore the three-goal cushion, and Kimberly Liebl added an assisted goal late to seal it. A six-goal individual performance is the kind of night that doesn't come around often — Liebl's effort was the clear story of Week 5.

OS Offices 7, Triple J 4

OS Offices and Triple J traded goals for two periods before OS Offices pulled away with a dominant third. The game was tied at 2-2 entering the final frame, and Triple J actually briefly cut a 4-2 deficit down to 4-3 with goals from Sean-Michael Kayga and Matt Lee. But OS Offices answered with four unanswered goals to close it out, getting two apiece from Jesse Theken and Nicholas Cimino.

Theken, Cimino, and Josh Gulledge each finished with two goals for OS Offices, while Bob Colby's three assists led all players for Triple J in the losing effort.

Parker Winnelson 7, World Orphans 3

Parker Winnelson's first period did most of the damage here. After World Orphans' BJ LaChat tied the game 1-1 early, Parker Winnelson ripped off three unanswered goals to close the frame — including two from Josh Cronk — and carried a 4-1 lead after twenty minutes. Brock Lofgren added a second-period goal to push it to 5-2, and Parker Winnelson coasted from there, adding two more in the third for the 7-3 final.

Brock Lofgren finished with two goals and an assist for the winners, while BJ LaChat's two goals were the bright spot in a tough night for World Orphans, who were also hurt by two Wayne Kohut penalties.

Platinum 4, J&J Automotive 3

The night's closest game came down to a third-period game-winner. J&J Automotive built a 3-1 lead through the first period, but Platinum answered with two goals in just over a minute early in the second to tie it at 3-3. Austin Storm, who'd opened the scoring for Platinum in the first, potted the eventual game-winner in the third to complete his two-goal night and hand Platinum the 4-3 win.

Alex Considine chipped in a goal and an assist for Platinum, while Andrew Marshall added a goal and a helper of his own in the comeback win.

OUTCAN Outlaws 5, ACE 1

ACE briefly tied this one 1-1 in the second period before the Outlaws took total control. OUTCAN scored twice more before the period ended and never let ACE back into it, eventually cruising to a 5-1 win. Richie Villanueva and Kyle Cook each finished with two goals, while Colby Rasplicka set up three of them without finding the net himself.

ACE managed just a single shot on goal all night — and scored on it — but it wasn't nearly enough to keep pace with an OUTCAN team that's starting to look like one of the league's most complete squads.

The Big Picture

Four of Week 5's five games were decided by three or more goals, but the story of the night belongs to TJ Liebl's six-goal performance for Nelson & Company — the kind of outing that will be talked about for the rest of the season. Platinum's comeback win over J&J Automotive was the lone nail-biter on a night that otherwise belonged to the league's top teams.