Asheville Aces Nationals Recap

by Dan Dean

Round Robin Scores

1:10pm — Asheville Aces 6, New Jersey Jagaloons 5

The wildest game of the opening round saw Asheville survive a one-goal shootout. The Aces’ offense held up under pressure, and the Jagaloons proved they can score with anyone—despite falling to 0–1. Team was lead by Dan Dean with three goals, Dustin Disbro also had two goals, Matt Hogue had two assist, and Austin Gomez with one goal.

3:50pm — Marple Gladiators 6, Asheville Aces 5

Marple bounced back in a thriller, outlasting Asheville in another one-goal track meet. Aces blew a 4 goal lead. The result pushes both teams to 1–1 and keeps the middle of the standings extremely tight. The Aces were lead by Dan Dean with two goals and one assist, Austin Gomez with one goal and three assist, Logan Garst with one Goal and one assist.

8:00am - Asheville Aces 4, Suffolk Sting 2 

Asheville delivered one of the biggest results of the round robin, knocking off Suffolk to finish 2–1 and tighten the Group A seeding race. The win mattered twice—on the standings line and in the goal-differential tiebreaker that ultimately shaped the bracket. Dan Dean had a goal to start the scoring and an empty netter to keep the Sting out of reach.

Final Minor Division Round Robin Standings

Group A (Decided by Goal Differential)
  1. Suffolk Sting (2–1), +3
  2. Asheville Aces (2–1), +2
  3. Marple Gladiators (2–1), +1
  4. New Jersey Jagaloons (0–3)

Three teams finished 2–1, and the group came down to goal differential—Suffolk edges Asheville, and Asheville edges Marple.

Group B
  1. Motor City Dirty Dawgs (3–0)
  2. Steel City Shockwave (2–1)
  3. Gainesville Crocodiles (1–2)
  4. Mavin Tugboats (0–3)

Motor City’s perfect round robin earns them the top seed in Group B, with Steel City right behind.

Quarterfinals

2:45pm — Asheville Aces 3, Gainesville Crocodiles 0

Asheville delivered the defensive performance of the round, blanking Gainesville 3–0 behind 34 saves from Brandon Shirley. Logan Garst powered the offense with two goals and an assist, and Austin Gomez added a short-handed goal to seal it.
Gamesheet: http://stats-ro.api.digitalshift.ca/gamesheet/bc3xE0

SEMIFINALS

4:20pm - MOTOR CITY DIRTY DAWGS 7, ASHEVILLE ACES 3

The Motor City Dirty Dawgs dominated this game, defeating the Champion Asheville Aces 7–3 in a high-scoring matchup—especially in the second period.

The Dirty Dawgs got on the board early in the first period with a goal from Justin McFatridge to take a 1–0 lead. The second period is where the game exploded: both teams combined for 9 goals, but Motor City controlled most of the action.

Nathan Skulley extended the lead to 2–0 before Asheville responded with a goal from Logan Garst to make it 2–1. From there, the Dirty Dawgs went on a major scoring run, putting up five unanswered goals—including multiple goals from Gabe Temple—to blow the game open at 7–2.

Asheville managed a late push with two goals from Dustin Disbro in the period, but it wasn’t enough to recover from the large deficit.

Key takeaways:

  • The Dirty Dawgs’ explosive second period decided the game.
  • Asheville showed some offensive life but couldn’t keep up defensively.

Overall, it was a decisive win for Motor City, powered by depth scoring and a huge middle frame.