Sentinels Stand Pat, Win 4-2

Topeka and Indiana reignited their rivalry between the first year organizations after not having played since an overtime game on November 1st. Topeka took all 4 of the early season matchups, but Indiana has changed up their roster a considerable amount and have found ways to win against other divisional opponents. Both squads came in needing points on the weekend as Indiana tries to climb out of the divisional basement and the Scarecrows look to get over Port Huron's grip on second place in the division. 

After a lot of back and forth between the Scarecrows and Sentinels through much of the first period it was a bobbled puck with 1:19 to go that bounced around and found Richard Colarussso's stick and was fired past Sammy Bernard for the 1-0 lead.  

Topeka wasn't sitting back however as just one minute into the second period Doug Blaisdell stepped up in the neutral zone and pushed the puck forward forcing a two on one rush and found Aldiyar Nurlan across the zone who was able to slap the puck past Chris Curr to tie the game up at a goal a piece. Indiana continued to find ways to attack as Noah Hippolyte-Smith took advantage of a worn out Scarecrows defense and put a puck through traffic past Bernard for the 2-1 lead 11:16 into the second period. 

Despite some early pushes by Topeka it was once again Indiana that found the back of the net first in the third. Jhuwon Davis found his first of the season 12:36 into the period to give themselves a 2 goal lead.. Topeka pulled the goaltender and had a late power play but couldn't cash in until just 16 seconds remained in the game on a Trevor Grasby point shot that found its way through traffic to bring the Scarecrows back within a goal. Keeping the goaltender pulled gave Indiana one final chance with the open net and Vladislav Pavlov cashed in to close out the game 4-2 with two seconds to go.

Bernard stopped 15 of 18 in the loss.

Topeka returns to Stormont Vail Events Center tomorrow night at 7:05pm to battle the Sentinels again. Get your tickets on Ticketmaster or at the Cable Dahmer Box Office.