NAHL Springfield Jr. Blues

Jr. Blues Ousted from Playoffs

Published on April 11, 2010 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Springfield Jr. Blues News Release


The Jr. Blues fans are still shell shocked from last night's shellacking by Topeka. The team came out as we've seen them do too many times this entire season, flat and not ready to compete in playoff hockey mode. You can tell, if you know this team, when they come onto the ice if they are ready to go at it, or just in house to go through the motions. Some of the veterans, who should be leading by example are just going through the motions. There has been little heart shown by too many of the players and last night it appeared some of them have their bags packed ready to head home for the summer off season. And last night's game looked like a USHL team playing a Tier 3 Junior B team. The Roadrunners are the class of the NAHL, don't get me wrong, and if they finish off the good guys tonight they will deserve to move on. While they are one of the teams we in Springfield love to hate, they are the class of the Southern division and the NAHL. I'm glad they will be in a separate division next year.

Tonight, as I start this article before game time, the boys in blue and gold have one more opportunity to redeem themselves for last night's debacle. With Coach Maher returning to the bench, it just might be the spark to make the difference. We shall see. In the mean time some of the fans, parents, etc. have made signs and put them up on the glass urging their heroes to put last night behind them and kick some tail tonight. So, all we can say at this point is Let's Go Blues!!!

There seemed to be more spirit in the team as they took the ice for warm-ups, but it is going to take a lot to overcome the confidence we look at on the Topeka side of the ice. With a win tonight it will be back to Topeka. AgainLet's go Blues!!!

The Jr. Blues came out smokin' in the first! Randy Cure lit the lamp at 15:05 of the first with assists by Denys Petrukhno and Justin Hochsprung, and that's the way the first period ended after Topeka thought they had tied the score, only having the goal disallowed because the net came off the pins. The Jr. Blues and the Roadrunners each had 10 shots on goal during the period, but the good guys played aggressive hard nosed hockey to set the visitors on their heels. One period down and two more to go. If the good guys keep up play like they have during the first we will make the trip to Topeka.

I have a difficult time understanding why the fans aren't here to support the team. Playoff games have drawn miserably compared to the regular season. Yes, the weather is nice, but we are seeing only half, or less, of our fans. Where are you Springfield? These crowds are worse than the start of the season when high school football rules and takes the fans away from the rink.

Well, the second period saw Topeka take a 2 - 1 lead to the locker room with some very questionable play on their part. Brian Prost was knocked down in front of the Roadrunner benchand then sat on to keep him from getting up. Later in the period Andrew Martin came out to handle a puck and had his feet taken out from under him by a nice cross bodyJhB>hC_qh3hkhWh`ph_VNhJ rhxc!0]nopqrk l STNO./12345MN./gdxcgdJ r/uvgdJ r 1h/ =!"#$%D@D NormalCJ_HaJmH nHsH tHDAD Default Paragraph FontRiR Table Normal4 l4a(k(No List$L@$ J rDate&!0]nopqrklSTNO ./12345MN./uv00p0p0p0p0p0p0p00 000p00p000000p0p0p0p00p000000 0p/"ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!JJ--

RR

--

! /PP33

XX

33

!8*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsdate9 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsState8!*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCity9"*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace8*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagstime 1015201045DayHourMinuteMonthYear"! "!"!"!"!"!"!"!"!"!"!"!"!"!"! gm L

G

I

# 333333!6N! Hockey Man

98E#B>=}J_VNxckC_qJ rm3`pW@ ? @@UnknownG:Ax Times New Roman5Symbol3&:Cx Arial;(SimSun[SO"qhRT#ZE'E'$243 H)?J rDateline: Springfield, Illinois Hockey Man Hockey ManOh`+'0 D P

hpx Dateline: Springfield, IllinoisateHockey ManpockockNormalMHockey Manp15kMicrosoft Word 10.0@*4E @@h{E."+,0 hp

Hewlett-Packard'A

Dateline: Springfield, Illinois Title

!"#$%'()*+,-/0123458Root Entry F{:Data 1Table3WordDocument"&SummaryInformation(&DocumentSummaryInformation8.CompObjj FMicrosoft Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q

Check out the Springfield Jr. Blues Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



North American Hockey League Stories from April 11, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central