Blues rally for a NA3HL split at Peoria

St. Louis Jr. Blues turned the tables on its host Sunday (Sept. 10, 2017), scoring the first four goals of the game on its way to a 5-2 win in one of two NA3HL games featuring Midwest Region teams.

After going to overtime the previous day, the Toledo Cherokee lessened the drama in its wrap up game at Dayton, wrapping up a two-win weekend with a 9-2 decision over the host Falcons.

St. Louis Jr. Blues 5 at Peoria Mustangs 2

The Jr. Blues spread out the offense with five different goal scorers on Sunday at the Owens Center in Peoria.

Matthew Monreal, 19, from Wauwatosa, WI and Ben Jones, 18, from Imperial, MO had the Blues up 2-0 after a period while Jack Hazelton, 15, from St. Louis and Regnars Udris, 18, from Latvia doubled the margin before Jack Radley, 18, from California, finally got the host side on the board 69 seconds from the end of the middle period.

Both teams added one more in the final period, Mark Capkovic, 18, from Oakville, MO scoring for the Blues and Jack Power Wayvon, 20, from Dunlap, IL rounding it out for the Mustangs.

Blake Bjella, 19, from Arizona made 17 saves to pick up the win for the Jr. Blues and Dakota Meyer, 17, from Peoria started in goal for the Mustangs, stopping 12 of 15 through 29:46 before Zack Freiburger, 18, from Moline, IA took over, stopping 13 of 15 through the second half.

The Mustangs will stay on home ice, playing host to the La Crosse Freeze on Saturday (Sept. 15) and Sunday while the Blues will not play again until Sept. 23 when it hits the road again for a set against the Wisconsin Whalers.

Toledo Cherokee 9 at Dayton Falcons 2

The Cherokee grabbed a 2-0 lead and all but settled this one with four more unanswered goals in the second, adding two more in the third before the Falcons finally hit the board with two in the final nine minutes.

EJ Gilbert, 19, from Dexter, MI enjoyed a four-assist game and despite a six-assist weekend, he exited the opening weekend fourth overall in league scoring.

Adam Felser, 20, from Sylvania, OH; Perry Zachary, 19, from Waterford, MI and Spencer Sandberg, 17, from Fort Wayne, IN each collected two goals and a helper for the winners and Ben Farley, 18, from Cadallic, MI also scored twice. The other goal was scored by Anthony Weinrich, 17, from Toledo and he also picked up an assist.

Brandon Holt, 18, from Madison Heights, MI scored and played a set-up role on the other Falcons’ goal, scored by Brody Nielsen, 18, from Newport, MI.

Both teams used a tandem in goal. Ricardo Gonzalez, 20, from Davidson, MI turned aside all 12 of the shots he faced in the first two periods for the Cherokee before Devon Bobek, 15, from Northwood, OH came on for the third and made a couple saves. For the Falcons, Danny Miller, 17, from Delaware handled 18 of 23 through the first 34:22 before Kyle Bavis, 17, from Cincinnati, OH came on, stopping 21 of 25.

The Cherokee will put its winning start on the line when it travels to Pittsburgh to faceoff against the Vengeance Saturday (Sept. 15) and the road gets no easier for the Falcons as they travel to Fraser, MI to faceoff against the Metro Jets. Both are two game sets continuing into Sunday.