Topeka RoadRunners Open Season With Win

The Topeka RoadRunners opened the season on Wednesday night at the NAHL Showcase Tournament, and skated to a 2-1 win in regulation over the Kenai River Brown Bears.
The first period played out with both teams seemingly testing the waters a bit until the Brown Bears cracked the scoreboard at 18:37 of the frame when Zac Lazzaro deflected a Vincent Stefan point shot through a crowd and past Spencer Viele for the 1-0 lead that stood at the end of one period. Topeka was outshot 7-5 in the first 20 minutes.
In the second period, Topeka would take 5 penalties yielding 4 power plays for the Brown Bears, who ramped up the attack with 22 shots in the period. Topeka, who had just one power play in the period and managed just 7 shots on goal still managed to take the lead. At 2:43 Tyler Andrew blocked a shot at the 'Runners blue line and chased down the bouncing puck, putting it behind the Brown Bears goalie for the game tying short-handed goal. Topeka pulled ahead at 6:16 when Kyle Sharkey's pass to Sean Gaffney was deflected in the air where Gaffney swung baseball style and swatted the puck just under the crossbar for a 2-1 lead. Topeka held the 2-1 lead after two periods, despite being outshot 29-12.
In the third period, Topeka held Kenai River to just 4 shots but one was on a breakaway that Viele turned aside to protect the one goal cushion. It was one of the 32 saves he made in the game helping propel Topeka to a 2-1 win.
Topeka (1-0-0) squares off with the Michigan Warriors (0-1-0) Toady at 1:30 pm.
The game will be broadcast by Arch Ecker via streaming audio at countrylegends1069fm.com and available for pay-per-view at nahl.FASTHockey.com.