Weekend Preview: Ice Miners Finish Season Series with Springfield
January 20, 2015 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Keystone Ice Miners News Release
CONNELLSVILLE, PA - The Keystone Ice Miners are getting hot at the perfect time. After a sweep of Johnstown, the Miners are playing their best hockey of the season, having won seven of their last eight games. The hot streak has put them at 19-15-3, and into a second place tie in the North Division with the Soo Eagles at 41 points. The Eagles and Ice Miners find themselves a whopping 20 points behind division and overall league leader, Janesville.
The opponent this weekend is the Springfield Junior Blues, a team that had a three game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Michigan Warriors on Saturday. The brief winning streak which also included a sweep of Johnstown, elevated the Junior Blues into the fourth and final North Division playoff spot at 36 points. The Junior Blues have scored the fewest goals of any NAHL team (85), but have shown great discipline this season, taking the 2nd fewest amount of penalty minutes in the league (469). Joshua Lammon and Lester Lancaster are tied for the team lead in points with 21 each. Dryden McKay has gotten the majority of the starts in goal this season, appearing in 23 of the Junior Blues 38 games. McKay has started every game against Keystone this season.
The Ice Miners lead the head-to-head battle with four wins in six games. Springfield took two of three at Nelson Center in mid-October. The first matchup went in favor of the Junior Blues, 3-1 on October 10th, before Nick Kossoff registered his first NAHL shutout the folowing day. The Jr. Blues claimed a high scoring affair, 5-4 on October 12th to get the edge in the series. The Ice Miners returned to Nelson Center on November 20th and picked up a come from behind 2-1 win that saw Alex Archibald tie the game in the final minute before Taylor Fernandez scored in overtime.
The series shifted to Connellsville on November 29th and 30th and the Ice Miners swept the weekend with 3-1 and 3-2 wins. Joey Sofo's first NAHL goal and a big weekend from Matt Jones highlighted the victories. Those games started a hot streak at home that the Ice Miners are still currently riding, having claimed victories in 8 of their last 10 games at the Ice Mine. Six of their next nine are also on home ice.
Friday night's promotion is "school celebration night." All students who show up with their report cards will save $2 off regular admission. Saturday night is "college night," with $5 tickets for all college students who bring I.D. Both games begin at 7:30 with gates opening at 6:30. Tickets can be purchased online at keystoneiceminershockey.com or by calling 724-628-4847.
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