Ryan Green was a thorn in the Maine Nordiques’ side Friday afternoon.
The 20-year-old forward had a hat trick to lift the St. Cloud Blizzard to a 5-3 victory over the Nordiques on the third day of the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota.
Noah Kane led the Nordiques with a goal and two assists.
“I think every time we hit the ice, it’s an opportunity to grow, and I think we did that today,” Nordiques coach Nolan Howe said. “A little bit of adversity when you lose a hockey game, but in a league as competitive as the North American Hockey League, you aren’t going to win every night — it’s about getting better every day.”
Austen Humphrey gave the Blizzard a 1-0 lead in the first period. Green made it 2-0 in the second period.
Maine started to fight back in the middle frame and tied the game with goals from Cannon Green.
Kane’s power play goal was set up by Lewiston native Cole Ouellette. Maine was 1-for-4 on the man advantage, while St. Cloud was scoreless on three chances.
Brady Bjork — a University of Notre Dame commit and the brother of Boston Bruins forward Anders Bjork — gave St. Cloud a 3-2 lead with under five minutes remaining in the second period.
The Nordiques, though, tied it at 3-3 before the second intermission. Isaiah Fox recorded his first goal of the season with 59 seconds remaining.
Green made his mark in the third period, scoring 64 seconds in the stanza and then adding an empty-netter with 12 seconds to go.
“A goal late in the second, we were feeling good going into the third period,” Howe said. “However, one early in the third period snuck by us. Everybody on the ice would like to have that one back, but the puck went in. We were fighting uphill the entire third period.”
Maine goalie Connor Androlewicz made 19 saves in the losing effort, while St. Cloud’s Travis Allen made 14 saves in the win.
The Nordiques close out the showcase at 2 p.m. Saturday against the Chippewa Steel.
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