Anchorage, Alaska – The Springfield Jr. Blues, proud members of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), had a rough weekend up in Anchorage, AK as the boys were only able to come away with two of a possible six points on the weekend. Nonetheless, once the smoke settled the Jr. Blues still sit atop the Midwest Division!
A long trip to Alaska began on Friday night in Anchorage for the Wolverines first ever home game, and the Jr. Blues got on the board first. Hagen Moe scored his first junior hockey goal in the 1st period, however, it would be all Anchorage after that. Zach Bade picked up his second goal of the season late in the middle period but the Jr. Blues would fall 6-2 in the end.
On Saturday it was the Hagen Moe Show as the young forward tallied his first junior hockey hat trick en route to a commanding 5-2 victory over the Wolverines. Moe would tip in a shot from Jonathan Panisa in the 1st period before adding two goals just :11 apart in the 2nd period as the Jr. Blues never looked back. Carson Jones and Noah Holt would both score in the 3rd period as a budding rivalry began to form in a penalty packed final frame.
Sunday’s afternoon (in Alaska anyways) contest broke the mold as Anchorage would get on the board first and hold the lead the entire game. Despite Noah Marino collecting his first goal of the season, the Jr. Blues were unable to complete the comeback and fell 4-1 to finish the weekend series.
It’d be hard to argue that the two stars of the weekend for Springfield were anyone other than Hagen Moe and Ethan Roberts, despite the outcomes. Moe registered 4 goals and 1 assist in the three games and was an offensive force all weekend long, finding his way to prime scoring opportunities time-and-time again. Roberts only got 1 win, however, he stopped 100 of 110 shots in the three games and kept Springfield in the game each night with timely saves.
By the Numbers:
- 946 days. That’s how long it had been since the Jr. Blues last hat trick occurred (March 15th, 2019 – Ben Schmidling) until Hagen Moe’s Hat Trick on Saturday. Now that the streak has been broken, we hope to see many more Hat Tricks this season!
- The Jr. Blues sit atop the Midwest Division with a 9-4-0-0 record for 18 points, 1 point above both the Fairbanks Ice Dogs (8-3-0-1) and the Minnesota Magicians (8-5-1-0). The Jr. Blues also currently have the 3rd best Goal Differential in the league at +15.
- The two teams combined for 236 penalty minutes in the three-game series with 180 of those coming in Saturday night’s game. There were 16 roughing minors, 4 fighting majors, 6 10-minute misconducts, and a slew of other infractions. A little old school hockey never hurt anybody, eh?
- The Wolverines put on an excellent display this weekend and the community came out to support in numbers. Nearly 3,000 fans attended the games this weekend and we want to congratulate Anchorage on joining the NAHL!
Up Next:
The Jr. Blues will stick around in Alaska this week as our next opponents will be the Fairbanks Ice Dogs this Friday and Saturday at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks, AK. It’ll be a showdown between two of the top teams in the entire league and you can catch all of the action LIVE on HockeyTV! Both Friday and Saturday’s games begins at 10:30 pm CST.
