The first period went very quickly, or so it seemed, as both teams played evenly. The Blues looked to be struggling to control the puck and get an attack going until Kevin Walters broke the ice with a dagger of a shot from the left point to put the Blue and Gold out front 1 – 0. Kyle “Cookie Monster” Cook and Josef Pontasch helped him and were given credit for the assists on the goal. And that’s the way they went into the first intermission, Jr. Blues 1 – Michigan Warriors 0. Both teams were credited with 11 shots on goal during the first and the Blues Radim Matus was whistled for the only penalty in the first twenty minutes. His penalty was another case of “the second guy gets the whistle”. Radim was taken down behind the Blues net, but when he took care of business he was sent to the box for a two minute rest. The Blues started the second period a man disadvantage.
The Blues were down a man for 1:40 to start the second as Matus served out the rest of his penalty. The Warriors were whistled for two penalties during the period to even up the two minute violations. Springfield scored at 1:40 into the period as Kyle Cook scored to put the Blue and Gold up 2 – 0. Josef Pontasch and Ruslan Pedan assisted on “Cookie Monster’s” goal. The rest of the period was up and down the ice with Gabe Antoni making several great saves for Springfield and the defense picked up the pace to stymie the Michigan team. The Blues scored again at 18:35 of the second stanza when Josef Pontasch tickled the twine at the back of the net to make the score 3 – 0. Chris Sitler and Cody Dixon were credited with the assists to Pontasch. So, after two complete periods of play the Good Guys were up 3 – 0.
The third period was the most exciting as Michigan scored two quick goals, as play picked up in intensity. Up and down the ice both teams played, but the difference after the two Michigan goals was the defense of the Jr. Blues. They clamped down on the Warriors and Gavin Tufte put it away for the Blue and Gold with an empty net goal with just under a minute left in the game. Kyle Cook had his second assist to go with a goal on a sweet pass to Tufte. That was it and it was the final score 4 – 2 Good Guys!
Tomorrow night (Saturday) the same two teams square off for a 7:00 pm start. You can watch the game live on FASTHockey.com internet pay-per-view. I’ll bring you the action and look forward to another victory for the Blue and Gold.
