NAHL Springfield Jr. Blues

Jr. Blues Earn Sweet Win

January 6, 2012 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Springfield Jr. Blues News Release


The K-Wings are a new team to the North American Hockey League this year, but you would never know it by the showing they're making in the North Division in their inaugural season. Tonight's meeting with the oldest continuous franchise in the league should be a pretty good match-up in their first meeting ever.

The K-Wings are in second place in the North Division with 37 points on an 18-12-1 record for the first half of the season. The Blues come into tonight's game in fourth place of the Midwest Division with a record of 12-20-1 for 25 points, and they still trail third place Coulee Region by one point. It has been a struggle, to put it the best, during the first half with coaching changes, injuries and many games against powerhouse, St. Louis. Tonight, Mike Williams returns to the lineup along with Guan Wang, but Paul Byrne remains on rehab for the Blues. Coach Dibble is still trying to make some acquisitions to strengthen the team. He sent first year goalie, Connor Girard to Dubuque of the USHL in an exchange of goalies, and we wish Connor the best with his new team. And we welcome Gabe Antoni to the Springfield Jr. Blues, and wish him a lot of success as well!

It was difficult to get into a hockey attitude today with the temperature in the high 50's. The unseasonably warm weather just won't allow any ice to form for pond hockey games. There are a couple of outdoor rinks that haven't even been filled for freezing yet, and a couple of grandsons are really getting impatient to skate in their backyard rink. With the warm weather their Dad hasn't even begun to put water in it. We may have to break down and mow the yard again before spring arrives.

The first period flew by with a familiar theme. The Blues still can't buy a goal, and our new goalie allowed two goals on six shots. It is now something like eight periods without a goal, but when they break the ice and score we know they can score in bunches. They better break that ice because they find themselves in a familiar situation of trailing the opponents. Appleyard, yes that is his name, scored at the 5:18 mark to make it 1 - 0 K-Wings, and McDowell scored at the 18:01 mark to give the visitors a two goal lead at the first intermission. The Kalamazoo team played good defense throughout the first twenty minutes and held the Blue and Gold away for most of the period. Another Blues shot rang off the pipe and refused to go in.

Neither teams were able to score in the second period, and the on ice action is heating up almost to a fever pitch. Still the home team can't buy a goal and have gone nine periods without the puck tickling the back of the net. You can see and almost feel the frustration on the bench. The Blues continue to fight hard and play good hockey, but there must be an invisible block of some kind in front of the goal. Kalamazoo took a turn ringing a puck off the pipe in the second period and that was as close as either team came to scoring.

Half of the third period was more of the same. The Blues began to play with more due diligence as the second half began to wind down. Finally, Kyle Cook scored at 10:28 to break the ice and I thought I saw the confidence building even as the guys were still down by a goal. That all changed roughly 2 ½ minutes later when Jordan Johnson, recently acquired from the Fresno Monsters, scored the tying goal and the game was headed to overtime. Neither team could score in overtime so the game went to a shootout and the first K-Wing got the puck past the Blues Goalie. It wasn't enough though as the Blues scored again and again to win the shootout and the game. Even though Coulee Region went to a shootout as well, the Blues with the victory and Coulee Regions loss take third place back again!

The same two teams square off at 7:00 pm again tomorrow night, and let's hope tonight gets that monkey of not being able to score off their back. Let's go Blues!

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