Independence, Mo. – The Missouri Mavericks in conjunction with the Wichita Thunder announced on Wednesday the teams will be playing for the Independence Cup this season presented by Independence Tourism. 
Missouri and Wichita play a total of 10 games against each other this season and the team who earns the most points against will win the Independence Cup and a $2,000 youth hockey scholarship.
 
“We are very happy to strengthen our rivalry with Wichita and benefit youth hockey at the same time,” Mavericks’ President and General Manager Brent Thiessen said. “This will certainly add to the excitement of our games with Wichita this season.”
 
Should the teams each win five games this season, the tiebreaker will be the team with the most points in the season series followed by goal differential.
 
The winner will be presented with the Independence Cup on March 24, 2013 in Wichita following the tenth and final game of the season between the two teams. The winner will keep possession of the cup for the following season.
Missouri opened the season on the road and have established a 2-1-1 record and five points, good for sixth place. Wichita has had a rough start, going 1-3-1 for three points in their first five contests.
  The teams will battle in the first three games for the Independence Cup this weekend. The teams will play in Wichita on Friday and Sunday nights, and the Mavericks will host the Thunder for their home opener on Saturday night at Independence Events Center. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews

RAPID CITY, S.D. – With a sold out crowd of 5,119 in attendance, the Rapid City Rush kicked off their 5th year anniversary in the Black Hills with a 3-2 win over the Denver Cutthroats on Friday night. Jordan Baker paced the Rush with two goals while Tim Boron turned away 37 shots in the first home game of the 2012-2013 season.
Spoiling the early festivities, the Cutthroats got on the board first, and in a hurry. Just 1:23 into the contest, a turnover by the Rush outside of their blueline led to a point-blank chance by Luke Fulghum who rifled a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot for the 1-0 lead.
Not to be outdone, the Rush lit the lamp just forty-five seconds into the middle stanza, tying the game on a rebound power play goal from Jordan Baker who tapped home a loose puck along the goal line. Then, with only 2:40 remaining in the period, hard work by Jarrett Konkle deep in the Denver zone led to a chance for Scott Wray who banked a shot in from the left faceoff circle to give the Rush a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
It took until the 15:40 mark, but Jordan Baker fired home his second goal of the evening to double the Rush lead by a play set up by Riley Weselowski. Not going down without a fight, the Cutthroats answered right back on the following shift with a goal from Luke Fulghum pulling the Cutthroats to within one. Despite a late penalty against the Rush, and with the goaltender pulled, the Cutthroats could not find the equalizer as the Rush held on for the 3-2 victory.
Special teams decided the game as the Rush went 2-for-4 on the power play while shutting down all eight of the Cutthroats man-advantage chances. The Rush now head to Denver to complete the home-and-home series against the Cutthroats tonight at 7:05 p.m. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews

Prescott Valley, Ariz. – The Arizona Sundogs celebrated their 2012-13 home opener Friday night with a 3-2 win against the Missouri Mavericks.
1:48 into the 1st period, the Sundogs went on a power play after Missouri’s Matt McCready was called for slashing. Chad Nehring followed it up with a goal 59 seconds later which would be the first of 2 goals for he collected. Missouri quickly answered with a goal of their own when Kellan Tochkin was able to slip one past David Brown.
Mickael Bedard opened the start of 2nd period with a goal, helping the Sundogs pull ahead. Arizona was left serving 3 penalties in the 2nd period when Jason Morgan and Adam Smyth both dropped their gloves and were assessed 5 minutes each for roughing. Nehring locked in the game-winning goal when he scored a second goal with assists from Schlemko and Larocque. The 3rd goal was exactly what the Sundogs needed to lock in their win over Missouri.
Brown kept out 38 goals giving the Sundogs a 1-1-1 season record thus far. The Sundogs will wrap up their 2-game series tomorrow night against the Missouri Mavericks at 7:05pm. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews

TULSA – Okla. – Mickey Lang scored his second goal of the night with 32 seconds left in overtime to give the Quad City Mallards a season-opening 4-3 win over the host Tulsa Oilers Friday night.
Lang skated a circuit of the entire offensive zone before firing the game winner home from the bottom of the right wing circle. Patrick Levesque, who scored himself earlier in evening, picked up his second assist of the game on the tie breaker. That the Mallards even reached overtime despite being outshot 38 to 24 in regulation was due in no small part to the efforts of goaltender Joe Palmer, who turned aside 35 shots in his Quad City debut.
Sudden death proved necessary after Gary Steffes scored from closed range at 2:50 of the third period to erase the second Mallard lead of the game and even the score at three.

Lang had scored on a rebound to give the Mallards the 3-2 lead they took into the third at 17:42 of the second period- just 32 seconds after Tulsa’s David Beauregard knotted the game at two on a breakaway.
The Mallards first forged in front by bouncing back from an early 1-0 deficit. Tulsa’s Drew Fisher opened the scoring with a drive from the left wing circle at 7:44 of the opening period.  The Mallards responded with two goals in just under two minutes. At 11:56 Levesque equalized from close range. At 13:48 it was Obi Aduba who would jam the puck in from the doorstep to give Quad City its first lead.
The Mallards and Oilers now head to the Quad Cities for the Mallards’ home opener tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. at the i wireless Center. The Mallards will wrap up their first weekend of action by taking on the Wichita Thunder Sunday at 4:05 p.m. on home ice. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at les.stockton@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Bloomington Blaze battled back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Wichita Thunder 6-4 on Friday night at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
The Thunder struck in the game’s first minute as Kevin Young struck a low drive from the right point just 45 seconds into the game.  The Blaze evened the game 7:30 into the first period when Jon Booras took a long pass and skated to the left post for a top shelf goal.  Wichita converted their first power play with 5:04 left in the opening period with a tally by Ian Lowe, then added a score on their next man advantage when Chad Painchaud rifled a drive from the right point to give the guests a 3-1 lead.  The Blaze were given a 5-on-3 power play late in the period and Jesse Dudas whistled a drive from the slot to put the Blaze within one at 3-2 with 1:06 remaining in the opening period.
The Blaze capitalized on another 5-on-3 as Booras whacked a shot at close range into an open right side of the net with 16:20 left in the second period.  The Blaze continued on a five-minute power play by grabbing a 4-3 lead with their third straight goal as Nicholas Rioux blasted his first tally from the slot with 12:51 left in the middle chapter.
Wichita tied the contest with their third power play goal of the night when Lowe shoved in a rebound at the right post with 12:17 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 4-4.  The Blaze regained the lead at 5-4 with 10:44 left in the third on the first professional goal by Tyler Gron assisted by Travis Granbois and Kyle Bochek.  Matthew Larke sealed the victory with an empty net goal assisted by Booras with 36.4 seconds remaining.
Booras, playing in his 400th game in a Bloomington sweater, again led Blaze scorers with two goals and three assists to increase his scoring total to 10 points.  Pier-Olivier Pelletier took the win in net with 42 saves while Torrie Jung sustained the loss with 25 saves.  The Blaze improve to 2-1-0 while the Thunder fall to 1-2-0. The Blaze and Thunder rematch on Saturday night at 7:05 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews