Jr. Blues Hold Off Jackalopes

Sep 21, 2018

The Springfield Jr. Blues held off a late rally by the Odessa Jackalopes to come away with a 3-2 win this afternoon. The Jr. Blues improve to 2-1-0 on the season. Ben Schmidling (St. Joseph, MO) added a goal in the matchup to give him four through three games. David Schmidling (St. Joseph, MO) added another assist as well, he now has five on the season. 

The scoring started early in the 1st period when Ben Schmidling beat Odessa’s Alex Camarre less than five minutes into the game. David Schmidling and Max Brainin (Buffalo Grove, IL) assisted on the goal and the Jr. Blues looked poised to control the game. The Jackalopes tied it up on the power play six minutes later thanks to Jared Christy notching his fourth tally of the season. But the Jr. Blues weren’t done yet as Spencer DenBeste (Marquette, MI) scored on the power play just two minutes later to regain the lead. Nikita Kozyrev (Tallinn, Estonia) assisted on the goal and going into the first break the Jr. Blues were in front 2-1.

The second period belonged to the Jr. Blues as a power play goal by Brandon Puricelli (St. Louis, MO) was the only offense of the period for either team. Kozyrev and Ryan Murray (Prior Lake, MN) assisted on the goal. Heading into the 3rd period the Jr. Blues were looking strong, but after a big comeback yesterday against New Jersey, the Jackalopes weren’t going to lie down.

Just two minutes into the final frame, Rex Moe scored his fifth goal of the season to put the Jackalopes within one. Odessa put up a strong effort in the final period, including a six on four advantage late in the game that resulted in what looked to be the tying goal as time expired. However, the referees waved off the goal and the Jr. Blues stood tall 3-2. Jack Williams finished the game with 32 saves including two big breakaway stops to give him his first NAHL victory.

The Jr. Blues will look to close out the showcase tomorrow afternoon against the Johnstown Tomahawks at 1:00 p.m. The Tomahawks currently are 3-1-0 and will play Fairbanks later this evening at 7:30 p.m.

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