Springfield, Illinois – The Springfield Jr. Blues are heading north – way north. The team has flown up to Soldotna, Alaska for a pivotal Midwest Division matchup against the Kenai River Brown Bears starting tomorrow night at 7:00 pm AKDST (10:00 pm CST).
The Jr. Blues are currently 5-7-2-1 and sit in fifth place in the division. A tough homestand against the Minnesota Magicians saw the team be outscored 15-7 in a three game set last weekend. But despite the disappointing results, positives were evident.
Springfield Jr. Blues Preview:
Brandon Puricelli (St. Louis, MO) had a 4 point weekend including two goals in Saturday’s overtime thriller, he now has points in 12 of 15 games played this season. Ben Schmidling (St. Joseph, MO) added a goal and an assist in Saturday’s game to put him at 15 points on the season so far (five goals, ten assists). Defenseman Davis Browning (Dallas, TX) provided two assists on Saturday, his first points since joining the team earlier this week.
Caleb Hannon (Buffalo, NY) and Jack Williams (St. Louis, MO) are currently sharing the netminder duties for Springfield. Hannon currently has a 3-2-2-0 record with a 2.96 GAA and a .905 save percentage. Williams has a 2-4-0-1 record with a 3.77 GAA and a .874 save percentage. The duo will look to rebound against the Brown Bears who they played in late September to start the season.
Kenai River Brown Bears Preview:
The Kenai River Brown Bears hot start has cooled as of late as they have lost three of their last four. Despite five goals and ten assists from Zach Krajnik the Brown Bears have scored two or fewer goals eight times this season. Kenai River is bolstered by the play of goaltender Gavin Enright. In nine games this season Enright has a record of 5-2-0-1 with a 1.82 GAA and a .939 save percentage.
Season Series:
Kenai River was in Springfield on September 28th & 29th to open the home schedule at the Nelson Center. Springfield took three out of four possible points that weekend going 1-0-1-0. They play each other this weekend in a two game set, both Friday and Saturday’s games are set for 7:00 pm AKDST puck drop (10:00 CST). After this weekend the two teams will next play in January in Kenai River before wrapping up the season series in Springfield in February.
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