Bernard Shuts Door Behind 5 Goal Effort, Topeka Wins 5-0

The Scarecrows looked for a quick bounceback after a difficult loss to Biloxi on Friday night. Topeka came into the weekend having dealt a blow to Biloxi with a sweep the weekend before and with the Port Huron Prowlers being off this weekend Topeka had games in hand and looked to climb up the standings board.

Topeka came out firing on Saturday night and after an early holding minor gave the Scarecrows a power play and TJ Sneath took his usual position in front of the net as Connor Lind took a ripper from the point and Sneath's tip gave Topeka the 1-0 lead 7:00 into the game. With seconds to go the Scarecrows took advantage of an icing call and after a wrister from the point drew a rebound right to Scott Coash who put it behind Rahul Sharma for the 2-0 lead, his 200th FPHL point with just 43 seconds to go.

Early in the second period in the midst of a line change Cory Checco dropped a pass just inside the blue line to Elijah Wilson, fresh off the bench, who put it up and over Sharma for his 150th FPHL point. Though the shots continued to add up the score remained the same through the second period.

The Scarecrows continued to pour it on as 1:50 into the final frame Sneath took a pass in the slot from Avery Smith and flipped it over and outstretched Sharma for the 4-0 lead. On their second power play of the night Topeka added a final dagger as Hugo Koch tipped home an Elijah Wilson shot to give Topeka the 5-0 edge at 13:33 of the final period.

Sammy Bernard went a perfect 44 for 44 in the Scarecrows first shutout in team history and his 8th win of the season.

Topeka returns home to battle the Baton Rouge Zydeco next Friday January 16th at 7:05pm. Get your tickets on Ticketmaster or at the Cable Dahmer Box Office.