Just like last night’s Blues – Jets game, both teams were up and down the ice like the devil was chasing each player. You’ve heard me on FASTHockey call it “Racehorse Hockey”, but I think they’ve stepped it up even more quickly tonight. The Blues were able to dodge another two man disadvantage when penalties were dished out much to the chagrin of Blues’ Head Coach Joe Dibble. With all the speed and quickness the teams played to a 0 – 0 tie after the first twenty minutes. You could feel the tension mount as the first period counted down and I thought we might have a line brawl when Tyler Rehm put a huge hit on one of the Jets and knocked him through the gate on the far side of the rink.
The Blues looked just a bit off in Period two, as the puck handling was better for Janesville. The Jets scored from the point at the 9:23 mark of the period on a goal by Childs. Cecere and Frank assisted on the goal to give the Jets the 1 – 0 lead. The Blues again spent too much time in the penalty box. Through two periods the Blues have been whistled for twice as many penalties as the Jets, but neither team was able to connect on power play opportunies.
Childs scored again in the third and single handedly put the hurt on the Blues. Ethan Nauman scored but it wasn’t enough and we head back to Janesville for the final tomorrow. Congratulations to the Jets. We’ll meet them on their home ice tomorrow at 5:00 pm. Tomorrow’s winner will meet St. Louis next weekend in round two. I’ll be on FASTHockey to bring you the game from the Janesville Ice Arena.
