The Shreveport Mudbugs (26-21-3-6) clinched a spot in the 2026 Robertson Cup Playoffs with a 5-2 win over the Amarillo Wranglers at George’s Pond on Friday night.
The Bugs immediately set the tone, opening up the scoring 5:20 into the game with Charlie Burchfield netting his 9th goal of the year, with Evan Adams assisting, to make it 1-0. Burchfield added his second tally of the game, at 9:59 of the 1st, to push the bugs in front 2-0. Remy Pusateri earned helper #7 on the goal. Duke Erhard followed with a 3rd goal, his 20th, this one on the powerplay, at 6:52 in the 1st. Trailing 3-0 and outshot 15-0 at this point, the Wranglers scored on their opening shot as Jackson Nesheim went top shelf on Tyler Hodges to put Amarillo on the board, trailing 3-1.
A pair of second period goals started with a score from Evan Hoglund, sniping a one-timer past Gavin Grenuik, on a feed from John Berndt, midway through the middle frame, to put the Bugs back on top by 3 goals. Following an initial no-goal call, Hayden Hedquist was awarded a goal for Amarillo after a review, at the 7:18 mark of the period, to pull back within 2, 4-2.
John Berndt found the net, on the 3rd Bugs powerplay goal, and the only tally of the 3rd period with Tremblay earning an assist, at 8:34 of the final frame.
With the win, the Bugs clinch their spot in the 2026 Robertson Cup Playoffs. Tyler Hodges picked up the victory in this one, jumping to 16-13-2-5 overall and earning a win in his first start since 3/14 against New Mexico. He stopped 17 of 19 Amarillo shots in the effort.
The regular season series against Amarillo concludes Saturday with a 7:11pm puck drop for Great Outdoors Night at the Pond. Tickets are still available at tickets.georgespond34.com. Join us for a night of exciting raffles and exciting hockey! All the action can also be found on NATV and a free audio-only stream is available on the Mudbugs Audio Network on YouTube.