Jr. Preds hold off Mustangs 4-3

After scoring a pair in the third to break a 2-2 deadlock, the host Nashville Jr. Predators held off a late comeback attempt by the Peoria Mustangs to hold onto a 4-3 edge in NA3HL play Saturday (Oct. 3).

In other NA3HL games involving Midwest based teams: West Michigan Wolves pounded Southern Tier Express 8-1; La Crosse Freeze pulled out a huge 12-1 win at Chicago against the Bulldogs; Metro Jets hosted and defeated the Pittsburgh Vengeance 5-2; Wooster avenged its loss from the previous day with a 2-1 edge on home ice against the Toledo Cherokee; Alexandria Blizzard pulled off a 2-1 road win in overtime against the Twin City Steel; St. Louis Jr. Blues pulled off a 9-0 shutout win on the road at Evansville against the Thunderbolts and Granite City Lumberjacks doubled the visiting Wisconsin Whalers.

Mustangs 3 at Jr. Predators 4

The Jr. Preds pulled off a weekend sweep at the A-Game Rink, but this one was tougher as the Mustangs rallied back from a 2-0 deficit with a pair of unanswered second period tallies and then responded 22 seconds after the Pred opened up a 4-2 lead to get back within a goal with 6:05 to play. The visitors never found an opening for the tying goal though.

Andrew Kluge, 19, from Florida and Shane Dunsmore, 18, from Midland, MI both picked up a goal and assist for the Jr. Preds with other goals for Peter Cabala, 19, from Goodrich, MI and Nicholas Redmon, 20, from Woodbury, MN. Nicholas Ottenbacher, 18, from New Baltimore, MI had 13 saves in goal to pick up the win for the Preds.

Jason Hoehn, 20, from Port Byron, IL and Austin Wisely, 19, from Chilicothe, IL both scored for the Mustangs, Wisely also picking up an assist. Ross Lipic, 19, from Forsythe, IL turned aside 26 shots in goal for the ‘Stangs.

Wolves 8 at Express 1

The West Michigan Wolves carried a 2-0 lead out of the first period, but put this one away with a 4-1 cushion through the middle frame and then two more against the host Southern Tier Express at the Jamestown Arena.

Chase Whallon, 19, from Grand Rapids and Devin Farkas, 20, from Battle Creek, MI both collected two goals and an assist for the Wolves and Dakota Ulmer, 19, from Walled Lake, MI picked up four assists. Nathan Rieman, 18, from Bay City, MI also had a four point game with a goal and three helpers, Devan Bayne, 18, from Saginaw, MI adding a goal and a set up and other goals coming from Brandan Benaglio, 20, from Battle Creek, MI and Justin Bloomfield, 17, from Kalamazoo, MI.

Kyle Chartier, 19, from Duluth, MN fired the one shot of 44 that beat Joe Licata, 20, from New Jersey, in the Wolves’ goal. Tyler Geloneck, 18, from Bellbrook, OH and Steele Millard, 18, from Madison Heights, MI split the work in goal for the Express, combining on a 33-save effort.

Freeze 12 at Bulldogs 12

The La Crosse Freeze carried a 2-0 lead out of the opening period, but heaped another five on that in the second period and carried a 5-1 margin out of the third for an easy win against the host Chicago Bulldogs at Romeoville.

Mick Nisbett, 20, from California enjoyed a four-goal explosion in the game while Jared Bromberg, 20, from Rochester, MN collected two goals and three assists. Kelly Reed, 18, from New Richmond, WI scored a hat trick and added an assist in the win, Cameron Pries, 18, from Waterloo, IA adding a goal and two assists. Justin Edwards, 20, from Mosinee, WI and JP Eykyn, 18, from Waseca, MN both helped out with three assists and the other goals came from Daniel Toycen, 19, from Chipewa Falls, WI and Chase Moiofer, 17, from Somerset, WI.

Andrew Wagner, 19, from East Lansing, MI was beaten just once on 33 shots and that goal came from Niko Moulakelis, 19, from Prairie View, IL. Ray Smith, 18, from Texas made 50 saves in goal for the Bulldogs.

Vengeance 2 at Jets 5

Even at 1-1 after a period, the Metro Jets scored a pair of unanswered middle period goals and then carried a 2-1 margin out of the third to finish off its win at Fraser Hockeyland against the visiting Pittsburgh Vengeance.

Michael Tratar, 20, from Madison Heights, MI picked up a goal and two assists for the Jets, Kevin Shand, 20, from Saline, MI adding a goal and a set up and other goals were scored by: Jacob Gleason, 19, from Madison Heights, MI; Jacob Drinkard, 19, from Lapeer, MI and TJ Krajewski, 20, from Macomb, MI.

James Unger, 18, from Pennsylvania and Devin Sroka, 19, from Pennsylvania scored the Pittsburgh goals.

Kameron Limburg, 20, from Howell, MI made 21 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Jets, Marcus Gloss, 19, from Houghton, MI stopping 25 in goal for the Vengeance.

Cherokee 1 at Oilers 2 

After a scoreless first period, Will Schober, 19, from Tipp City, OH opened the scoring for the Wooster Oilers 83 seconds into the second period and Tyler Houmard, 20, from Canton, OH added another 90 seconds after that to double the margin.

Austin Turner, 20, from Temperance, MI  pulled one back on a powerplay, five seconds from the end of the middle period, but that was as close as the Toledo Cherokee would get with another scoreless period following.

Joe Morgan, 19, from Colorado, picked up with with a 26 save effort in goal for the Oilers, Glen Bates, 20, from Ida, MI handling 23 in goal for the Cherokee.

Blizzard 2 Steel 1 (ot)

Tyler Frischmon, 20, from Ham Lake, MN put the Alexandria Blizzard on the board with the lone first period tally, but Joe Costello, 20, from Rochester responded for the host Twin City Steel at White Bear Arena and following a scoreless third, teams went to overtime even at 1-1.

Connor Busse, 16. from St. Paul, MN ended this one with his goal for the Blizzard 1:46 into the extra session.

Evan Bisek, 20, from New Prague, MN picked up the win in goal with a 33 save effort and Gunnar Howg, 18, from Duluth, MN stopped 33 for the Steel.

Junior Blues 9 at Thunderbolts 0

The Junior Blues dominated this game evenly with three goals in each period but only one was needed thanks to a 20-save shutout from Zach Young, 18, from Robertsville, MO.

Offensively, Marshall Bayley, 18, St. Charles led the way with two goals and three assists, Zach Mitchell, 19, from Chicago adding two goals and two assists with Sam Maddox, 18, from St. Louis and Cameron McAtee, 18, from O’Fallon, MO each adding a goal and an assist. Other Jr. Blues goals came from: Dominic Caito, 17, from St. Louis; Teddy Cardinale, 19, from St. Louis and Alex Klaesner, 20, from St. Charles, MO.

Adam Conkling, 18, from Fort Wayne, IN turned in a 60-save effort in goal for the Thunderbolts

Whalers 3 at Lumberjacks 6

The host Granite City Lumberjacks grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first 7:18, but saw it trimmed to 3-2 by the end of the opening period against the Wisconsin Whalers at the Armadillo Deck Arena.

Both teams added one more in the middle period but Casey Esselman, 19, from Wisconsin Rapids restored the two goal cushion for the Lumberjacks 6:46 into the final period and Lucas Carroll, 18, from St. Francis, MN clinched it with his powerplay goal two minutes from the final buzzer.

Tommy Giller, 19, from White Bear Lake, MN collected a goal and assist for the Lumberjacks with other goals for: Adam Marty, 20, from Somerset, WI; Ben Haugo, 18, from Litchfield, MN and Will Mix, 19, from Washington. Mac Berglove, 19, from Elk River, MN made 21 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Lumberjacks.

Caleb Vosters, 20, from Janesville, WI, Matthew Carr, 19, from Middleton, WI and Nathan Viberg, Orland Park, IL scored the Whaler goals and Peter Henderson, 20, from Libertyville, IL played a part in setting up two of them. Evan Moyse, 19, from Olmsted Twp. OH. stopped 29 shots in goal for the Whalers.