Springfield, Illinois – The Springfield Jr. Blues shutout the Topeka Pilots 3-0 on Saturday night to split the weekend series and improve their record to 4-3-1-0. The Jr. Blues still sit in 4th in the Midwest Division but are just one point behind the Janesville Jets and Minnesota Magicians who are tied for 2nd place.
Saturday’s game was offense heavy in the 2nd period again as the Jr. Blues scored three times during the period. Max Brainin (Buffalo Grove, IL) scored 2:47 into the second frame for his first goal of the season, assisted by Nick Techel (Wausau, WI) and Ryan Reid (Phoenix, AZ). Brainin would strike again with a little less than five minutes left in the period to increase the lead to 2-0. Ben Schmidling (St. Joseph, MO) and Max Osborne (Anchorage, AK) assisted on Brainin’s second goal.
But the offense wasn’t through yet. With just :08 left in the period, Ryan Reid scored his second goal of the season from Ben Schmidling and Nick Techel to put the Jr. Blues ahead 3-0 heading into the second intermission.
That would be all the scoring Caleb Hannon (Bufallo, NY) would need, however, as he shut the door on Topeka to earn his first shutout and second win of the season.The 19-year-old Taft School alumni also made a huge save on a penalty shot in the 2nd period that would have tied the game. Hannon improved his Goals Against Average (GAA) to 1.33 which is good for 6th best in the NAHL.
The Jr. Blues travel to Minnesota this weekend to square off with the Magicians on Friday and Saturday. The Magicians have been paced by goaltender Ethan Haider, who has four wins and a 1.67 GAA. The Jr. Blues will look to solve Haider and the Magicians and climb higher in the standings and you can watch the games live on HockeyTV.
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