Cloquet, Minnesota – The Springfield Jr. Blues headed up to face the Minnesota Wilderness this past weekend, our first of four weekend series with our friends from Northern Minnesota. Carson Dorfman and Jake Peterson led the Jr. Blues to a weekend split and our record now sits at 5-8-0-0 for 10 points.
Friday: SPR 1 – 0 MNW
Coming off a come-from-behind 2-1 victory the previous Saturday night in Chippewa, the Jr. Blues looked to continue their momentum heading into an important series with the Wilderness on Friday.
Jake Peterson knocked in a loose rebound past netminder Isak Posch with less than three minutes left in the 1st period to give the Jr. Blues the lead and that was all the defense needed. The Jr. Blues killed off the only Wilderness power play opportunity and were the beneficiaries of a few lucky bounces throughout the final two periods.
Carson Dorfman picked up his first junior hockey shutout by stopping all 34 shots sent his way, including a few acrobatic gems that frustrated the Wilderness offense all night long. Posch, who made several big saves of his own, stopped 26 of 27 in the loss.
Edvards Bergmanis and James Callahan each tallied an assist on the goal by Peterson, while Brayden Cook and Isaac Keller each led the team with 4 shots a piece.
Saturday: SPR 0 – 2 MNW
After the big win on Friday, the Jr. Blues looked to pick up our first weekend sweep of the season on Saturday night. The Wilderness, who came into the series having won four of their last five, came out swinging for the fences.
The home team broke the deadlock early as Beau Janzig’s shot from the near circle deflected off a stick and beat Carson Dorfman to make it 1-0. It would remain that score until halfway through the 3rd period when Oliver Stumpel doubled the Wilderness lead to 2-0 on a shot from the near boards.
Dorfman picked up the loss despite stopping 32 of 34 and keeping the Jr. Blues in the game with several key stops. Isak Posch got the shutout for the Wilderness, stopping all 26 shots.
By the Numbers:
- The Jr. Blues penalty kill unit kept the Wilderness power wlay quiet by killing all 5 opportunities on the weekend, including a double-minor on Saturday. After a rough couple of weekends, the PK crew has killed off 11 of the last 13 penalties successfully. Overall they have a 79.2% PK percentage (38/48).
- Carson Dorfman’s shutout streak had stretched to 115:35 before the Wilderness scored on Saturday night. The streak began at the 6:56 mark of the 1st period against Chippewa on October 15th.
- The Jr. Blues had a 21-game streak of scoring at least one goal snapped on Saturday night. The streak began last season on March 19th.
Upcoming Games:
- The boys travel up to Mason City, Iowa for a two-game series against the North Iowa Bulls this Friday and Saturday. Both games begin at 7:10 pm CST and can be seen exclusively on HockeyTV!
- Last season we played the Bulls four times: going 1-3-0-0 against our friends from Iowa. Our lone win was a 6-3 victory on December 11th where Isaac Keller and Isaac Novak both scored.
- Our series with the Bulls this weekend and when they come to Springfield in December are our only out-of-division games during the regular season (not including the Showcase).
