WATERTOWN, S.D. — The Watertown Shamrocks closed out the NAHL regular season with two narrow losses to the Aberdeen Wings over the weekend, falling in a pair of one-goal contests.
On Friday, Aberdeen scored three unanswered goals to overcome an early deficit and secure a 3-2 victory. Watertown took control early when Owen Chartier netted a short-handed goal at 9:39 of the first period. Owen Fask extended the lead to 2-0 at the 17:27 mark of the second.
However, the Wings surged back with goals from Zan Spari-Leben and Jonathan Doucette to tie the game. Easton Edwards scored the game-winner at 7:33 of the third period. Aberdeen finished the night outshooting Watertown 47-36.
The Wings’ momentum carried into Saturday, where they outshot the Shamrocks 37-25 en route to a 4-3 win. Joe Rice put Watertown on the board first at 13:54 of the opening frame, but Aberdeen’s Brody Dustin and Cooper Anderson responded to give the Wings a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
The teams traded goals in the second period, with Watertown’s Brody Josselyn and Aberdeen’s Sam Scheetz keeping the margin at one. Aberdeen’s Owen Pitters added a crucial insurance goal at 15:52 of the third to make it 4-2. Chartier scored his second goal of the weekend on a power play at 4:13, but the Shamrocks could not find the equalizer before time expired.
Watertown (31-23-3-2) enters the postseason as the No. 4 seed in the Central Division. The Shamrocks will face the top-seeded Austin Bruins in a best-of-five series to open the division semifinals.
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