St. Louis, Metro, Granite City, and Texas bring home Day 1 wins

March 27, 2018

It was an exciting opening day of the 2018 NA3HL Fraser Cup at Canlan Ice Sports in Romeoville, Illinois. The higher seeded St. Louis Jr. Blues, Texas Brahmas and Metro Jets won their opening round games, while defending champion and #8 seed Granite City Lumberjacks beat the #1-seeded Binghamton Junior Senators with a come from behind win.

 

Day 2 takes place on Wednesday, March 28th. 

 

All NA3HL Fraser Cup games will be broadcast in HD on HockeyTV

 

For more information on Fraser Cup schedule, format, tickets, and hotels, visit: http://na3hl.com/fraser-cup/

 

The seeding for the event will be as follows and was based on point totals in the 2017-18 NA3HL regular season standings:

 

1. Binghamton Junior Senators

2. Metro Jets

3. Texas Brahmas

4. St. Louis Jr. Blues

5. Yellowstone Quake

6. New England Stars

7. La Crosse Freeze

8. Granite City Lumberjacks

 

Pool A: Binghamton Junior Senators, St. Louis Jr. Blues, Yellowstone Quake, Granite City Lumberjacks

Pool B: Metro Jets, Texas Brahmas, New England Stars, La Crosse Freeze

 

#8 Granite City Lumberjacks 3 vs. #1 Binghamton Junior Senators 2 (watch highlights) – The defending Fraser Cup Champion Granite City Lumberjacks came from behind to score three unanswered goals to defeat the Binghamton Junior Senators, 3-2 in the opening game of the 2018 Fraser Cup. Things were looking good for the Junior Sens early as they opened the scoring just :20 seconds into the game on a goal from Caleb Beversdorf. 12 minutes later, it was Ryan Flanagan scoring for Binghamton to make it 2-0. However, the playoff tested Lumberjacks came right back as Jordan Olson and Braden Altena scored similar goals later in the 1st period to make it 2-2 after one period of play. The rest of the way, the teams and goalies buckled down until late in the 3rd period as the Lumberjacks won an offensive zone face-off and veteran forward Owen Sikich buried a shot just under the crossbar with just over a minute left in regulation to give the Lumberjacks the win and a valuable three points. Granite City goalie David Mulligan made 23 saves in the win, while Junior Sens netminder Brady Anderson made 31 saves in the loss. Boxscore

#4 St. Louis Jr. Blues 4 vs. #5 Yellowstone Quake 0 (watch highlights) – The Jr. Blues scored just :20 seconds into the game and never looked back as goaltender Blake Bjella stopped all 24 shots that came his way in a 4-0 shutout win for the Jr. Blues over the Quake. Ivan Galaguzov gave the Jr. Blues a 1-0 lead with the eventual game-winning goal just :20 seconds into the game. Later in the 1st period, it was Jack Hatton scoring to make it 2-0. The Jr. Blues would add two more goals in the 2nd period, including one from Jake Cox and another from John Shively. Cox would end up with a goal and three assists on the night. Quake goaltender Reid Waszczenko made 34 saves in the loss. Boxscore

#2 Metro Jets 4 vs. #7 La Crosse Freeze 1 (watch highlights)– The Metro Jets slowed the momentum of the Freeze with a 4-1 win both team’s opening game of the Fraser Cup. The Jets got goals from four different players and a four-point night from Connor Inger in the win. After a scoreless 1st period, most of the scoring was done in the 2nd period, which began with a goal from Metro’s Trevor Momot. La Crosse was quick to answer as Clayton Lackey scored a power play goal to make it 1-1. Less than four minutes later, Metro had the answer as Inger scored what would be the eventual game-winner. Later in the period, Matt Schaumburger scored to make it a 3-1 game. Any thought of a Freeze comeback was squashed early in the 3rd period with a goal from Metro’s Anthony Cinato. Jets goalie Andrew Kormos made 15 saves in the win, while Freeze goalie William Graves made 34 saves in the loss. Boxscore

 

#3 Texas Brahmas 4 vs. #6 New England Stars 2 (watch highlights)– An early 3-0 lead was enough for the Texas Brahmas as they opened up Fraser Cup play with a 4-2 win over the New England Stars. Michael Redmon was the offensive hero for the Brahmas, scoring two goals on the night. Texas scored three goals in a 10-minute span in the 1st period, which included two goals from Redmon and another from Cameron Bickford. New England was able to get on the board late in the period with a power play goal from Tyson Gudaitis. In the 2nd period, the Brahmas pushed their lead back to three as Kellen Ireland scored. The Stars cut the deficit back to two goals on another power play goal, this time from James Wilson to make it 4-2 at the end of two periods. In the 3rd period, the Brahmas locked down the Stars attacked and added an empty-net goal from Sam Sykes to make it a 5-2 final. Brahmas goalie Carson Murison made 17 saves in the win, while Stars goalie Greg Moon made 24 saves in the loss. Boxscore