The Calgary Wranglers played their first post-holiday game on Saturday on the road against the Tucson Roadrunners. The Roadrunners had the edge for most of the game and got scoring going early. They got out to a 4-0 lead by the halfway mark of the game and penalties stacked up in the back half of the game. Despite the frustrations, the Wranglers managed to get two goals but fell in this game with a final score of 5-2.

Lineup notes

Alex Gallant made his return to the lineup after serving a two game suspension. Him back on the fourth line kicked out Lucas Ciona from the lineup. This and a swap between the pipes were the only changes from the last game the Wranglers played on Sunday, Dec. 21st.

Wranglers lines

Dryden Hunt – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk

William Stromgren – Sam Morton – Matvei Gridin

Carter King – Clark Bishop – Parker Bell

Alex Gallant – David Silye – Andrew Basha

Artem Grushnikov – Daniil Miromanov

Nick Cicek – Etienne Morin

Jeremie Poirier – Turner Ottenbreit

Owen Say

Game at a glance

Calgary went back to Owen Say to kick off this series and the Roadrunners opted to start Matthew Villalta for this game. There weren’t many shots in the first few minutes of the game and the first penalty came at 6:13, when Owen Allar was called for tripping. Calgary wasn’t able to register any shots on goal on this chance and about a minute after this penalty expired, the Roadrunners opened the scoring off a one- timer from Sam Lipkin at 9:19 he put between Say and the near post.

The Roadrunners continued to push then Calgary was able to take the puck back the other way for a few minutes before the home team added another tally to their lead at 18:33. It was a very similar goal with Tucson beating Say this time over the other shoulder. That was the last of the scoring action in the first period and the Wranglers trailed the Roadrunners 2-0 after 20 minutes. Shots through the first were 6-5 Tucson.

Early in the second period, Clark Bishop was called for tripping. This call game just 28 seconds in and the Utah Mammoth affiliates managed four shots on this special teams opportunity. At 3:03, Martin Frk appeared to have scored and jammed the puck over the line but after it was reviewed, the play was whistled dead before the goal and Martin Frk made contact with Villalta, so it did not count.

It continued to be mostly Tucson through the opening minutes of the frame and at 4:12, the home team made it a 3-0 game off another one timer on an odd man rush. Owen Allard was the goal scorer for this one.

At 6:42, the Wranglers were back in the box when Nick Cicek was called for holding. Seconds before this penalty expired, the Roadrunners added another goal at 8:39 off a bar down shot from the offensive zone faceoff circle to make it a 4-0 game.

Calgary got a bit of life after this goal and were on the power play at 11:06. After this power play, they scored their first goal of the night at 14:09. Artem Grushnikov took the shot and Martin Frk redirected it in front to make it a 4-1 game. Rory Kerins picked up the secondary assist.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Artem Grushnikov's shot is redirected by Martin Frk to put the Wranglers on the board

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4:00 AM · Dec 28, 2025

Scoring stat summary

Artem Grushnikov – 1A

Rory Kerins – 2A

Dryden Hunt – 1G

Martin Frk – 1G, 1A

Next up

This series continues into Sunday afternoon and if this game is any indication of what’s in store for their next meeting, it could be an emotional one. The tensions were firing up towards the end of this game and with the turnaround being so quick, there’s sure to be some boil over. Game two between these squads goes at 4:00 p.m. MT.