NHL hopefuls keep dreams alive after sparkling in 3ICE tournament

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- After helping his Minnesota team come all the way back from the bottom of the standings to win the 3ICE 3-on-3 professional summer tournament Thursday, Isaac Johnson hopes he opened some eyes, as well as some opportunities to further his hockey career.

Scoring a hat trick in a 3-2 triumph against 3ICE Tennessee in the championship game at Baptist Health IcePlex, the Florida Panthers training facility, could do just that.

The 26-year-old forward, who won the Guy Carbonneau Playoff MVP Award after helping 3ICE Minnesota capture the 2025 Patrick Cup, is unsigned for this season; he had 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) for Tahoe of the ECHL last season and no points in seven games for Jukurit of Liiga, the top professional league in Finland.

“I haven't really decided what’s next," he said, "but I'll be playing some hockey and I'm blessed to be able to do that.”

In addition to the three goals in the championship, Johnson also scored in a 3-2 semifinal win against 3ICE Buffalo earlier Thursday.

“I don’t think we expected the speed of the game right away," Johnson said. "(Coach Larry) Murphy just said, ‘We've got to figure this out.’ He became a little hard on us, and a coach needs to do that sometimes. It worked out awesome. We realized we just needed to take it a game at a time, and everyone just wanted it so bad. You could feel it out there. It was awesome.’’

Johnson is among a host of players who have dreams of getting closer to making the NHL. Another is goalie Parker Gahagen, who made 12 saves in the title game and will attend training camp with the New York Islanders in September.

The 32-year-old was 12-4-4 with a 2.39 goals-against average, .916 save percentage and one shutout in 22 games last season for Lehigh Valley, the Philadelphia Flyers' affiliate in the American Hockey League, and 4-5-1 with a 2.69 GAA and .902 save percentage for Reading of the ECHL.

“We had great performances from Isaac with his goals, and Parker made a lot of big saves for us,’’ said Murphy, the 3ICE Minnesota coach who is a Hall of Fame defenseman and won the Stanley Cup four times. “But in 3-on-3 hockey, you really need all seven players. It's like a chain; the weakest link will let you down. All of our guys were committed to this.”

3ICE Minnesota came into the final night of the season seeded fourth and advanced to the championship game with the win over Buffalo thanks in great part to 11 saves from Gahagen, who is expected to begin this season with Bridgeport of the AHL.

"We bounced back really well after that first week,’’ Gahagen said. “I think once our backs were against the wall, we were like ‘OK, now it’s time to go.’ We really were able to come together as a team and make it work. Each and every guy on this team stepped up.”

3ICE Tennessee made its way into the Patrick Cup final by defeating No. 2 seed 3ICE New York/New Jersey 5-1 in the second semifinal of the night.

In the consolation game, NY/NJ scored four unanswered goals in the second half -- two by forward Gordie Green, who played professionally in Slovakia last season, to defeat 3ICE Buffalo 5-1.