TOPEKA, Kan. – Wichita Falls goaltender Jared Dempsey stopped 38 of 39 shots Friday night as the Wildcats held off a third-period flurry en route to a 3-1 NAHL victory over the Topeka RoadRunners at the Kansas ExpoCentre.
The two teams return to action for game two of the three-game series Saturday night. The series wraps up Sunday afternoon with a 2 p.m. start time.
Dempsey, who joined his team six weeks ago and is now 10-2 with his new club, faced 17 shots in both the first and third periods against the RoadRunners. The Wildcats built a 3-0 lead after two periods but Topeka’s Max Harper scored his 11th of the season on the power play with 5:28 remaining in the game. Jeff Makowski and Johnny DeRoche assisted.
Dempsey faced a half-dozen quality chances in the game’s final minutes but was up to the challenge.
The RoadRunners had an opportunity in the first period to go up, but instead surrendered a short-handed goal as Ricky Carballo found himself alone in the neutral zone and had a loose puck bounce his way. He walked in on Topeka goalie Ryan Snowden and beat the RoadRunner goalie with a nifty move that beat Snowden between the legs.
Domantas Cypas and Steve Tillie made it 3-0 with goals five minutes apart in the second period as the RoadRunners were outshot 17-5.