NAHL Springfield Jr. Blues

Topeka's in Town

Published on November 5, 2011 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Springfield Jr. Blues News Release


One fan of the Jr. Blues will not be in the stands tonight to cheer her favorite boys on. My wife had arthroscopic surgery on her knee yesterday, and is not going to be able to go tonight. After two plus months of nearly constant pain in her knee, the surgery has already made a big difference. So, perhaps tomorrow night, but not tonight. She'll be at home cheering on the good guys on FASTHockey. I know the house will be quiet except for some cries of "Let's go Blues!"

Coming into tonight's game the Springfield Jr. Blues have reeled off three wins in a row. Two wins against unbeaten Janesville last week has been the high point of the early season for this team. As frustrating as the horrendous beginning of the season was, we knew their was more talent that what came through on the ice. The team seems to have come together, and play better and better each week. They will have another real test against the perennial good Roadrunners this weekend. We should have a pretty good idea just how good the Jr. Blues are at this point in this year's campaign after this weekend.

After handing previously unbeaten Janesville their first two defeats last week, the guys have been about as confident as I've seen them this year. The mental aspect is a big part of Junior Hockey, so the improvement will help tremendously in how much more this team develops. The guys are beginning to realize how much talent there is on this team, but I don't think they have any idea just how good they can be.

The first period flew by in a hurry. Yes it was twenty minutes, but the action was fast and furious. At the first intermission there was no score as both teams have been well matched. The Blues have shown a lot of desire tonight as they continue to bang the boards and check hard. This Roadrunner team seems more subdued through the first and even look a bit lethargic. That is very unusual for a Scott Langer team. I'm sure he'll fire them up for the second period and we may see even faster play. The Blues start the second on the Power Play for 31 seconds.

The stat sheet at the time I'm writing this shows the Blues outs 1shot in the first 18 -3. That's hard to believe. The officials are on the ice and the teams will return shortly. Let's go Blues!

Three goals were scored in period two, unfortunately for Blues fans, it was Topeka with two against one for the home team. Topeka didn't take long to get on the board as they scored at just 58 seconds into the period. The Blues tied it up on a Mike Williams wrister that I don't think the Goalie ever saw coming at him. That tied the score at 8:07 of the period, and Mike was assisted by Shayne MacLaughlin. That tie lasted for ten minutes and then the Roadrunners flew a puck past Tyler Parks to regain the lead. It looked from the press box that Tyler must have been screened as he didn't see the puck until it was past him. The Topeka goal was scored by Ben Bahe, who was assisted on the play by Ryan White and Dan Dupell. And that was how we went to the second intermission.

After the "Chuck-a-puck" and tonight's rendition of the Chicken Dance we gave the rest of the scores from around the league and took a break as the Zamboni dressed the ice.

Nal-Kil Productions are taking care of the tech side of things for me and they want you to know if there is any problems with your FASTHockey picture or audio to contact them on face book or twitter. You can access that by going to the team's web site, jrblues.com and clicking on the icon for face book or twitter.

Period three next.

Three goals scored in the third, two by Topeka as they won this first of two games by a final score of 4 - 2. The only bright spot for the Blues was a break away by Kyle Cook and a Five-hole score. Topeka ruled the third period as they played well throughout.

Tomorrow the same two teams drop the puck at 7:00 pm. Join us for game two on FASTHockey! See you then.

Check out the Springfield Jr. Blues Statistics

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North American Hockey League Stories from November 5, 2011


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.

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