Springfield, Illinois – The Springfield Jr. Blues swept the Chippewa Steel this past weekend and finished their regular season series 6-1-1-0 against their division foe. Brandon Puricelli and Ben Schmidling led the way offensively with six points on the weekend while David Schmidling added two goals of his own.
The only time the Jr. Blues trailed this weekend was on Friday night. Early in the 2nd period the Steel scored and took a 2-1 lead, however, the Jr. Blues would score the next six goals to take a commanding 7-2 lead. A late goal by the Steel would make it 7-3 and that would be the final score. Puricelli and Max Brainin each had a goal and three assists, while Ben Schmidling would add two goals and two assists. Williams stopped 21 of 24 shots sent his way to earn the victory.
The Jr. Blues came out strong on Saturday night in front of the biggest crowd of the season looking to continue their quest to reach 2nd place. Puricelli and David Schmidling each had two goals while Ben Schmidling added a goal and an assist. Williams stopped 24 of 25 and the Jr. Blues defeated the Steel 5-1.
Jr. Blues Notes:
- Brandon Puricelli is hot; he is currently on a 12 game point streak in which he has totaled 9 goals and 21 assists. Overall on the season he has 30 goals and 48 assists and is ranked 4th in the league in points with 78.
- Ben Schmidling now has 36 goals on the season and has points in 8 straight games. He currently ranks 3rd in the league in goals and 11th in points (65).
- Jack Williams picked up wins 20 and 21 over the weekend. His 21 wins are the most by a Jr. Blues goaltender since Andrew Martin put up 22 in 2010-11. Williams also recorded his first NAHL point with an assist on Saturday.
- With Nikita Kozyrev’s goal during the 2nd period of Friday’s game the Jr. Blues now have three 20+ goal scorers. There were no 20 goal scorers on the Jr. Blues last season.
- The Jr. Blues are 32-21-4-1 for 69 points this season, including a 7-2-1-0 mark in their last 10 contests. They sit comfortably in 3rd place in the Midwest Division and are just 3 points behind Minnesota for 2nd place. With two games to play for both teams, 2nd place and home ice during round one of the playoffs will be on the line this weekend.
- 13 different players registered a point over the weekend: Puricelli, Brainin, Kozyrev, Techel, B. Schmidling, D. Schmidling, Stewart, Nelson, Marino, Williams, Osborne, Villegas, and Sterne.
- Javi Ubarri made his Jr. Blues debut on Saturday night. Ubarri, who is from Glenview, IL, played for the Chicago Mission U18 team this season.
