Springfield, Illinois – The Springfield Jr. Blues had a rough weekend. The visiting North Iowa Bulls came to town and won both games as the Jr. Blues were unable to gain ground in the Midwest Division. We head into this weekend’s game sitting in 2nd place with a 29-14-1-2 record for 61 points.
Friday: SPR 1 – 3 NIA
The Jr. Blues were looking to turn the page after what occurred up in Janesville, but the Bulls had other ideas. The visitors took an early 1-0 lead in the 1st period and held that advantage going into the middle frame.
Hagen Moe registered his 20th goal of the season on the Power Play to tie the game up halfway through the 2nd period, 1-1. The Jr. Blues seemed poised to turn the game around in a positive direction, but a late goal from the Bulls gave them a 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd.
North Iowa would keep the Jr. Blues at bay in the final period and came away with a 3-1 victory, sealed by an empty net goal. Aksel Reid picked up the loss in net despite stopping 21 of 23. Connor Smith and Cole Dubicki picked up assists on Moe’s goal.
Saturday: SPR 3 – 5 NIA
After a disappointing outcome on Friday, the Jr. Blues answered the call and came out with fire on Saturday night. Hagen Moe opened the scoring on the Power Play just shy of the halfway mark of the 1st period to give us the 1-0 advantage. He’d add another goal, this time even strength, just four minutes later to give us a 2-0 cushion heading into the break.
From there, things didn’t quite go as planned. After a centering pass bounced off a defenseman to give the Bulls their first goal, they’d tie things up on a odd-man rush just minutes later to make it 2-2. As we prepared for the final 20 minutes, the Jr. Blues needed to find an extra gear to claim points and break our losing streak.
North Iowa had other plans as they’d take the lead off a defensive turnover to make it 3-2 at the 6:59 mark of the 3rd period. James Callahan would tally his 5th of the season to tie things back up, 3-3. The Bulls would, however, respond in kind by scoring on a tip in to make it 4-3 and then sealing the game on a shot from the slot to make it 5-3.
Ethan Roberts picked up the loss in net, stopping 38 of 43. Leo Bacallao had two assists while Cole Dubicki, Isaac Novak, Carson Jones, and Mac Gadowsky all had one.
By the Numbers:
- Hagen Moe pushed his season total of goals to 22 after recording three goals this weekend. In 38 games for the Jr. Blues he has tallied 22 goals and 10 assists for 32 points and is a +5 overall.
- Cole Dubicki picked up two assists on the weekend to push his league leading total to 41 assists on the year. He now has 20 goals and 41 assists in 50 games split between Kenai River and the Jr. Blues.
- With two more goals this weekend our Power Play units now have a 28.6% success rate which puts as 3rd best in the league behind only Kenai River (29.5%) and New Mexico (28.7%).
Upcoming Games:
We stay at home for this weekend’s series against the Minnesota Wilderness! Join us on Friday at 7:05 pm on Scheels Night! Doors open at 6 pm and our friends from Scheels – Springfield IL will be in attendance with special prizes to give away. On Saturday our game starts at 6:05 pm with doors opening at 5 and our friends from SMTD will be in attendance as well! Grab your tickets at tickets.jrblues.com – save some time and skip the line on game night!
