Week 9 Recap: Kurtz Scores Four, Mantaro's Hat Trick Falls Short, and Liebl Forces an 18-Goal Tie at the Buzzer

Week 9 delivered fireworks from the opening drop. A four-goal performance, a hat trick that came up one goal short, and an equalizer with the clock at 0:00 in an 18-goal tie made for one of the most entertaining nights of the season. Here's the full Week 9 breakdown.

ACE 5, Velodrome 4

Simon Kurtz did most of the damage himself. He scored just 32 seconds into the game, added a second before the first period ended to put ACE up 2-0, and came back in the second period with two more, including the goal that stood as the game-winner, to finish with four on the night.

Velodrome made it interesting. In a second period that produced seven of the game's nine goals, John Cuvala and Justus Neumann scored twice in under two minutes to cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2, and after Sam Boudreault restored ACE's two-goal margin, Ben Carlson pulled Velodrome back within one at 7:30. Kurtz answered less than two minutes later to make it 5-3. Carlson scored again early in the third to make it 5-4, but Velodrome never found the equalizer over the final 15-plus minutes.

Owen Kalbfleisch added two assists for ACE, and Ian Gustafson picked up the win in net. Mike Flood and Josh Simonds each had two helpers for Velodrome in the loss.

J&J Automotive 5, Triple J 4

J&J Automotive hung on in a back-and-forth game that saw Triple J's Keegan Mantaro score a hat trick in a losing effort, with the third coming when only three seconds remained. Sam Downs and Travis Hinton staked J&J to a 2-0 lead in the first four minutes, but Brad Hogan and Mantaro answered to knot it at 2-2 before the first period was over.

Jonathan Valtin put J&J back in front in the second, Mantaro tied it again at 3-3, and the game stayed level until late in the third. Then Noah Seibert, with 3:44 left, and Downs, with under a minute to play, scored back to back, both set up by Valtin, to make it 5-3. Mantaro's third goal of the night followed with just three seconds on the clock, but there was no time left for Triple J to find one more.

Downs finished with two goals, Valtin had a goal and two assists, and Thane Gilmore got the win in net.

Nelson & Company 9, Parker Winnelson 9 (Tie)

Eighteen goals, three players with at least a hat trick, and a game-tying goal with the clock at zero. Parker Winnelson raced to a 2-0 lead on goals from Casey Kosley and Nate Flint, Nelson & Company answered with TJ Liebl and Anthony Mandt to tie it at 2-2, and from there the night turned into a chase. Parker Winnelson kept finding the next goal, and Kosley's third of the night made it 6-3 in the second period.

Nelson & Company never held a lead in this game, but it never went away, either. Ian Barr and Liebl scored in under two minutes to make it 6-5, Jared Wolf pushed Parker Winnelson back up by two, and Mandt finished off his hat trick late in the second to cut it to 7-6 heading into the third.

Kosley scored his fourth early in the third to make it 8-6, and Kimberly Liebl pulled Nelson & Company back within one. Nicholas Lang gave Parker Winnelson a two-goal cushion again with under four minutes to play, but TJ Liebl had the final word. He scored his third goal about a minute later, then his fourth, set up by Nicholas Dillon and Eric Larson, as time expired to force the 9-9 tie.

TJ Liebl finished with four goals and an assist, Kosley had four goals, and Lang piled up a goal and three assists, while Mandt's hat trick rounded out the night's big numbers.

OUTCAN Outlaws 4, Platinum 2

The OUTCAN Outlaws never trailed in this one. Tim Kuhl scored 29 seconds in, and while Platinum tied it twice, first through Jesse Chambless in the second and then through John Slaughter right out of the gate in the third, the Outlaws had an answer both times. Brody Keene put them back in front, unassisted, late in the second, and Dan Ennis scored the game-winner with 13:50 left in the third.

Hunter Winegarner assisted on the winner and added the insurance goal himself with 8:15 to play, finishing with a goal and an assist. Jeremy Chubbs earned the win in net for OUTCAN, while Brandon Ward, a week removed from Platinum's 1-0 shutout, took the loss.

It was also a physical night, with nine penalties called, though neither team could convert on the power play.

World Orphans 5, OS Offices 3

After a scoreless first period, the World Orphans broke it open in the second. OS Offices struck first when Michael Malan scored at 12:30, but World Orphans answered 52 seconds later through Andre Wright, took the lead on Austin Webb's goal, and made it 3-1 on Chad Ferguson's before the period ended.

Mitchell Liebl got OS Offices within one in the third, but Ferguson's second goal restored the two-goal lead, and after Josh Gulledge pulled OS Offices back within one again with 4:01 left, Wright sealed it with his second goal of the night with 2:38 to go.

Webb was the playmaker, finishing with a goal and three assists for a four-point night, while Ferguson and Wright each scored twice. Ian Ward picked up the win in net. OS Offices, which also fell 1-0 to Platinum a week ago, dropped a second straight.

The Big Picture

Week 9 had it all: Simon Kurtz's four-goal night, Keegan Mantaro's hat trick in a one-goal loss, and an 18-goal thriller that Nelson & Company tied at the buzzer after never once leading. Three of the five games finished within a goal, and the five games combined for 50 goals. Nine weeks in, nobody in this league can get comfortable.