Hasselgren Nets Hat Trick, Warriors Down IceRays 5-1
October 23, 2022 – North American Hockey League (NAHL) – Oklahoma Warriors News Release
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Malte Hasselgren scored a natural hat trick, recording the first three goals of the game, and Nick Comfort earned his first three-point night in the NAHL as the Oklahoma Warriors beat the Corpus Christi IceRays 5-1 at the American Bank Center Saturday.
Nearly five minutes into the opening frame, Comfort sailed a pass from his defensive zone goal line up to Hasselgren at center ice and Hasselgren scored his first of the game from the top of right the circle at 4:54. Oklahoma went to work in the offensive zone moments later and added to its lead. Coming from a board battle at the half-wall, Comfort dropped a pass to Kaden Nelson who was covering his point. Nelson sent the puck down to Hasselgren in the slot, and the native of Gavle, Sweden, shoveled a backhand shot into the back of the net at 7:45. The Warriors went to the first intermission up 2-0 on the scoreboard and 10-8 in the shot column.
Scoring would continue past the halfway point of regulation and Hasselgren completed his hat trick at 12:06. William Ahlrik and Garrett Horsager set up Hasselgren for a zone entry on the far-side, and Hasselgren rifled home his third into the top corner to make it 3-0. Less than two minutes later, Brendan Williams helped a puck from the far-side circle to the slot to Hunter Jones. Jones then swiped it to Comfort in tight, who potted his first of the season into a mostly empty net. The Warriors scored their final goal of the game with 3:11 left in the second when Blaise Miller skated through neutral, stopped up at the near-side faceoff dot, and wristed in the fifth goal of the game past the blocker of Corpus Christi’s goaltender.
The IceRays scored just over 10 and a half minutes into the third off an unfortunate bounce for the Warriors, but Oklahoma would come away with the 5-1 win.
Oklahoma is back in action for its home opener October 28th at 7:15 p.m. against the Shreveport Mudbugs at Blazers Ice Centre in Oklahoma City. Tickets for all Warriors home games can be purchased at https://www.oklahomawarriors.com/individual-game-tickets.
Tagged: Blaise Miller, Brendan Williams, Garrett Horsager, Hunter Jones, Kaden Nelson, Malte Hasselgren, Nick Comfort, William Ahlrik
• Discuss this story on the North American Hockey League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
