The Texas Tornado (29-16-7, 65pts, #3 South) closed out its season series against the Topeka Roadrunners over the weekend, and the games panned out exactly as they had all season long. As in the previous two weekend meetings, the Tornado dispatched of Topeka on Friday night but were unable to replicate the performance the following evening. The Tornado closed out the season series against Topeka 3-2-1, but still remain four points back of the Roadrunners for second place in the South division.
More on the Tornado after the jump…
Texas Snaps 4-Game Skid with 2-0 Victory
Playing without Jordan and Justin Greenberg over the weekend, the Tornado were charged with a tough task facing the team directly ahead of them in the South division standings. Fortunately for Texas, Topeka was dealing with injury troubles of their own, missing both of their top goaltenders. Alex Larson, who played with Cleveland of the NA3HL this season, started in net for Topeka on Friday. Taylor Herndon scored a goal midway through the first, and neither team scored until Jack Prince notched an empty-netter with less than 30 seconds to go.
Tornado Fall in Season-Series Finale Against Topeka
The Texas Tornado scored the opening goal of the game in the first period, but then gave up four unanswered to the Topeka Roadrunners before falling by a final score of 4-1. Coming off of his first Tornado shutout, Hunter Leisner was back in net for the Tornado and stopped 25 of 29 Roadrunner shots. With the loss, Texas trails Topeka for second place in the South division by four points. Herndon scored for the second time in as many nights with the opening marker, but Topeka pulled away with early goals in both the second and the third, followed by a late empty-netter.
Looking Ahead and Around:
–March is a busy month for the Tornado, one which includes four regular season home games and the Pros vs Propsects game on March 18th. Texas’ next home games will be Friday, March 16th and Saturday, March 17th against the New Mexico Mustangs and that will also be “Skate to a Cure” weekend. The Tornado will be wearing specialty jerseys that weekend which will be auctioned off following Saturday’s game. A portion of those proceeds will be donated to the Frisco Relay for Life, as will a portion of the proceeds from the weekend’s ticket sales.
–On March 18th, the Tornado will be hosting its 6th Pros vs Prospects event. This event is a chance for the current Tornado to play against various former NHLers at Dr Pepper Arena. The game-worn jerseys from each former pro will be auctioned off following the game, with a portion of those proceeds to be donated to the Dallas Stars Alumni Association. This year’s list includes former Stars such as Jere Lehtinen, Ed Belfour, and Joe Nieuwendyk, so make sure you are there to see it!
–The Robertson Cup is coming! The Texas Tornado are hosting this year’s NAHL National Championship Tournament, May 3rd-8th in Frisco. Check out all the information here! Want to bring the trophy to your business before the tournament? You can! Check it out here.
–The 2012 NHL Trade Deadline may have been a dud, but a former Tornado goalie might just have gotten his chance. Full story here. And then he took that opportunity and won in his debut, recap here.
As always, follow all things Texas Tornado related at www.TornadoHockey.com or www.NAHL.com
I can be reached directly via email at Nick@TornadoHockey.com