The Mavericks faced off against the Buffalo Stampede in a two-game home stand over this past weekend. In a weekend filled with offensive fireworks, the Mavericks swept the young upstart franchise from the USPHL’s Atlantic West division by a combined score of 16-1.

The weekend series opened on Friday night with a primetime matchup at the Lewis Center, OH home of the Mavericks. The first period of the two game series looked to be an evenly matched effort that ended in a scoreless tie after 20 minutes. Mavericks captain, Eric Podgorny opened the scoring half way through the second period with a goal assisted by Alex Perez and Jadon Beard. Looking to extend the home team lead, Chance Settles scored the Mavs’ second goal just two and a half minutes later with assists from Ethan Bishara and Colin Crowley.

As the third period got underway, Jadon Beard would give the Mavs a 3-goal lead at the 7:13 mark, assisted by Alex Perez. As the half-way mark of the third period passed, the visiting Stampede looked to mount their comeback as Joe LoBrutto tallied their first goal of the game with helpers from Cameron Coogan and Justin Webber. The Mavs quickly answered back; however, to retake a 3-goal lead, with a goal by Brian Odstrchel, assisted by Tyler Isherwood and Roman Boffa. As the final minutes of the game approached, the Stampede pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in a final effort to close the gap; however, with two and a half minutes remaining, Ethan Bishara added an unassisted empty net insurance goal to secure the home team victory.

Alex Toth got the start in net for the Mavericks and had a strong performance, stopping 28 of 29 shots on the night to pick up his second victory of the season.

Both teams returned to action on Saturday afternoon for a matinee rematch. As the game got under way, the Mavericks wasted little time securing an early lead. Jared Burkhart opened the scoring at the 2:52 mark, assisted by Thiago Jeronimo and Ryan Lempicki. One minute later, Anton Petrovskiy scored the Mavs’ second goal, assisted by Alex Perez, and 45 seconds after that, Ethan Bishara would pop in the Mavericks’ third goal in under 5 minutes of play, assisted by Colin Crowley and Eric Podgorny. After the early barrage of scoring, the visiting Stampede would call a time out to settle their players and stop the bleeding. The break in play seemed to help settle the nerves of the young Buffalo team as they would hold the Mavericks off for another 16 minutes of play. The Mavericks only goal before the end of the second period would come at the 11:47 mark, as Thiago Jeronimo would tally his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Tyler Isherwood and Ryan Lempicki.

As the third period got under way, the Mavericks looked to make a decisive statement and put the game on ice. Chance Settles would set the Mavericks third period scoring flurry in motion less than two minutes into the period with an assist from Ethan Bishara. Colin Crowley would add the second goal of the period just 14 seconds later, assisted by Ethan Crowley and Chance Settles. After the Stampede pulled their starting goalie, the Mavs would wait just two minutes to put more points on the board as rookie Jaxson Gillespie notched his first junior goal at the 3:23 mark, assisted by Nik Jozefiak and Bailey Doust, immediately followed by a goal from Alex Perez just 16 seconds later, assisted by Jadon Beard and Caleb Fifolt. Jared Burkhart would score his second goal of the game just two minutes later with an assist by Tyler Isherwood. As they third period crossed the half way point, Jared Burkhart would secure his first USPHL hat trick as he scored his third goal of the game unassisted. Jadon Beard would score the Mavs’ 11th and final goal of the game at the 14:38 mark, assisted by Alex Perez.

Rookie goaltender, Frank Murphy got the start between the pipes for the Mavericks and turned in a strong performance, stopping all 22 shots he faced to pick up his second consecutive shutout. This victory also moves Murphy into first place in the USPHL Premier division for both Save Percentage and GAA.

The Mavericks are back in action this Friday as they host the Wooster Oilers at 7:30 PM at OhioHealth Chiller North. The Mavericks will use this game as an opportunity to honor our men and women in uniform as part of the team’s Veteran’s Day Game. All proceeds of next Friday’s game will go to support the Mission 22 organization who works to eliminate veteran suicide.