Timmerman shutout leads Blackbirds to USPHL win

The Illiana Blackbirds evened its season record at 2-2 and collected a weekend sweep of the host Detroit Fighting Irish as Joe Timmerman, 18, from St. John, IN turned aside all 20 of the Fighting Irish shots on his way to a 2-0 shutout win at the Brownstone Sports Center Sunday (Sept. 20).

The only other game on the same day saw the Forest Lake Lakers collect a 7-1 win on home ice against the Steele County Blades.

After a scoreless first period, Isaiah Sands, 19, from Schaumberg scored the game winner late in the second period. He also collected an assist on the insurance goal, scored by Grant Koehler, 18, from Ames, IA with 7:51 to play in the final period.

Jordan Gilbert, 17, from Grosse Ile, MI made 44 saves in goal for the Fighting Saints.

The Blackbirds will be off next weekend and return to action Oct. 2 when the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings pay a weekend visit. The Fighting Irish will also be off and play a midweek game Sept.30 on home ice against cross town rival, the Motor City Hawks.

Blades 1 at Lakers 7

Zachary Remers, 20, from Florida and Brian Miller, 19, from New Jersey, continued their blazing start to the season for the Blades; both racking up five points — Remer with three goals and Miller scoring a pair and both have crossed the 20-point plateau early in the season.

It was the Blades on the board first, just 2:36 into the contest, but the Lakers held control with a 3-1 lead at the end of the first, adding two more in both the second and third periods.

Anton Minaev, 18, from Russia collected a goal and three assists and JT Ackerman, 17, from Colorado picked up a goal an an assist. Aleks Zakirov, 18, from Russia made 19 saves to pick up the win in goal.

Chase Lewis, 18, from North Carolina scored the lone goal for the Blades and Wyatt Ulrich, 19, from International Falls, MN turned aside 29 of 36 shots in goal.

The Lakers will be out of action until Oct. 2 when it makes the trip to Hudson, WI to play the St. Croix Valley Magicians and the Blades are scheduled to host the undefeated Chicago Cougars in a weekend series beginning Friday (Sept. 25).