Sports stats



Eagles Stay in Third, Take Two-Of-Three from Janesville

January 31, 2014 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Soo Eagles News Release


The Soo Eagles took two out of three games over the weekend.  After five games against Janesville, the Eagles were able to pick up 8 points out of 10 to push them up in the standings and remain in a playoff spot.  The Eagles sit just a point behind Michigan, who they will face Saturday in Flint, and one point ahead of Johnstown who takes on first place Port Huron this weekend for two games.

The first game of the weekend started Saturday, instead of the usual Friday night.  It was the Eagles who scored first with a goal by Scott Cuthrell from Sandis Zolmanis at 3:05 in the first.  Janesville got on the board midway through the second with a goal by Adam Winborg from Dan Kucerovy and Alex Smith.  It was Scott Cuthrell who put the Eagles back up with an interesting goal that bounced off a Janesville player and into the net, assists going to Sandis Zolmanis and Derek Lodermeier.  Eagles goalie, Landon Trutt, faced only 4 shots by Janesville in the third period while Eagles forward Nick Belger went on to score two goals, the final being an empty net goal, to solidify the Eagles win; assists for both of the goals went to Mike Sabatini and Matt Menta.  Nick Belger, Sandis Zolmanis, and Scott Cuthrell received third, second, and first star respectively.

Sunday's game was not as good for the Eagles, as the Jets handed the Eagles their first loss in four games.  Janesville opened up scoring at just 0:37 of the first with a goal by Drew Callin from Adam Winborg and Kyle Patava.  Following that goal up just two minutes later was former Eagle, Robin Hoglung from Alex Shuchuk.  After Janesville's third goal of the first period by Michael Louria from Adam Winborg, Eagles' starting goalie, Nathan Klebe was pulled and replaced by Landon Trutt.  Before the end of the period, Eagles got on the board with a goal by Nick Belger from Darren Brady.  The second period saw just a loan goal from Eagles' defensemen Michael Caruso from the blueline; assists by Ryan Urso and Sandis Zolmanis.  After the second intermission, it appeared as though the Eagles had given up and let four goals get away from them and into the net.  Joe Llaurado scored first in the period from Bryan Kronberger and Jordan Himley.  Adam Winborg finally got a goal of his own after two assists with assists going to Drew Callin and Bryan Kronberger.  Kyle Patava scored with assists going to Michael Louria and Grant Frederic.  As the final nail in the Eagles' coffin, former Eagle Robin Hoglund whipped one passed Trutt, with assists going to Dan Kucerovy and Alex Shuchuck.  With just under three and a half minutes left in the third period, forward Mike Sabatini's anger boiled over into a "fight" with a Janesville player.  The fight basically consisted of the Janesville player turtling up while Sabatini did his best to teach him a lesson. He was issued 17 total penalty minutes for the incident, including a two minute instigator penalty and a game misconduct for fighting meaning he would be out for the next game.  Michael Caruso was the only Eagle who received a star, earning third star for his impressive second period goal and his never quit attitude.

The final game between the two teams was the lone game on Monday night in NAHL.  Nathan Klebe got the start for the Eagles in net.  After a quiet first period it was the Jets who struck first with a goal by Alex Shuchuk from Jesse Junttila to start the second period.  That would be their only goal though, as the Eagles answered back just two minutes later with an impressive shorthanded goal by Chase Matson from Ryan Urso and Brad Pung.  Shortly before the end of the period, forward Denver Pierce scored from Trevor Boyd and Michael Caruso.  For the second time in the series, it was Nick Belger with the empty net goal that solidified the win late in the third.  Thankfully, and surprisingly enough, there were not any major incidences or penalties.  That is until Matt Menta was thrown out for a tripping call, which in my opinion didn't warrant a game ejection.  Stars for the night were- 3rd Star Brad Pung, 2nd Star Logan Halladay (Janesvilles goalie who faced 42 shots), and 1st Star Nathan Klebe who faced 27 shots, letting just one sneak by.

Thankfully, the Eagles and Janesville have about a month break from each other, with just one more game between the two teams in late February, which is also the Eagles first home game in February.  The Eagles head to Perani in Flint to face the Warriors for their next three contests and then out to Wenatchee, Washington to face the Wild.

There are just 17 games left this regular season for the Soo Eagles! If you can't make it to the games, tune into fasthockey.com for both home and away games - you're not going to want to miss the final push for the playoffs.

• Discuss this story on the North American Hockey League message board...

North American Hockey League Stories from January 31, 2014


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.

Other Recent Soo Eagles Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central