Jets, Jr. Blues, Lumberjacks and Freeze punch tickets to Semi-Finals
March 29, 2018
Above: St. Louis goalie Blake Bjella posted his second shutout of the Fraser to lead his team into the Semi-Finals. Below: Metro Jets defenseman Robby Flannery had two goals in a 4-1 win on Thursday night to lead the Jets to a perfect 3-0 record in the round-robin.
The 2018 NA3HL Fraser Cup Semi-Finals are set after a dramatic final day of round-robin competition at Canlan Ice Sports in Romeoville, Illinois.
Semi-Final #1 at 2pm on Friday will feature the winner of Pool A the St. Louis Jr. Blues matching up against the runner-up in Pool B, the La Crosse Freeze.
Semi-Final #2 at 5pm is a rematch of last year’s NA3HL Fraser Cup Championship Game as the winner of Pool B, the Metro Jets, square off against the runner-up from Pool A, the defending Champion Granite City Lumberjacks.
Watch all the action live on HockeyTV
Day 3 recaps
#5 Yellowstone Quake 2 vs. #8 Granite City Lumberjacks 1 (OT) – With a spot in the Semi-Finals on the line for the both teams, the Lumberjacks got the valuable one point they needed to take the game to overtime, where they would fall to the Quake in extra time, 2-1. With the win in overtime, the Quake picked up two points as they finished with 5 points in the pool. However, with the OT loss the Lumberjacks picked up one point and finished with 6 points in the pool and advanced to the Semi-Finals. All the scoring in regulation came in the 2nd period as Cole Stewart scored for the Quake, while Zach DeBoom answered for Granite City. In the overtime, Jack Moore poked home a loose rebound for the game-winner. Both goalies played very well in the game with Quake goalie Reid Waszczenko making 35 saves in the win, while David Mulligan made 32 saves in the OT loss. Boxscore
#4 St. Louis Jr. Blues 4 vs. #1 Binghamton Junior Senators 0 – The St. Louis Jr. Blues captured the #1 spot in Pool A and a spot in Friday’s Semi-Finals with a 4-0 shutout win over Binghamton. With the loss, the Junior Senators finished the round-robin with an 0-3 record. Jr. Blues goalie Blake Bjella posted his second shutout of the Fraser Cup Tournament, making 18 saves in the win. The Jr. Blues got on the board first in the 1st period with the eventual game-winning goal, which came from Jake Cox. The Jr. Blues put the game out of reach with three goals in the 2nd period from Dante Jones, Ben Jones and Bud Winter. Colin Burgess made 31 saves for Binghamton in the loss. With the win, the Jr. Blues finished atop of Pool A with 7 points. Boxscore
#7 La Crosse Freeze 4 vs. #6 New England Stars 3 (SO) – Thanks to a shootout goal from Brady Lindauer, the La Crosse Freeze punched their ticket to the Fraser Cup Semi-Finals with a thrilling 4-3 shootout win over the New England Stars. With the 2 points in the shootout win, the Freeze finished pool play with 4 points, which was the same as the Texas Brahmas, but because the Freeze won the head-to-head match-up, they won the tie-breaker and advanced. After a scoreless 1st period, the Freeze took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period with a goal from Alec Seeger. The Stars answered back with a pair of goals from Cole Archambault and Tyson Gudaitis to take a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period. In the 3rd period, the Freeze got a pair of goals from Thomas Magnavite to take a 3-2 lead, only to see the Stars tie it at 3-3 with a shorthanded goal from Archambault, his second goal of the game. That set the stage for the shootout winner from Lindauer, while Freeze goalie William Graves stopped all three Stars shooters and made 22 saves in the win. Stars goalie Greg Moon made 36 saves in the loss. Boxscore
#2 Metro Jets 4 vs. #3 Texas Brahmas 1 – Andrew Kormos made 24 saves and Robby Flannery and Devlin Macaulay each scored twice as the Jets become the only team to win all three round-robin games as they defeated Texas, 4-1. With the win, the Jets finished with 9 points and are the #1 seed from Pool B. With the loss, the Brahmas were eliminated as they lost out on the head-to-head tie-breaker with La Crosse. Flannery started the scoring with a 1st period goal and Macaulay added his first goal in the 2nd period to make it 2-0 for the Jets after two periods. In the 3rd period, Flannery and Macaulay would add their second goals early in the 3rd period to make the score 4-0. Texas would later get their lone goal from Bennett Weycker to make the final 4-1. Texas goalie Carson Murison took the loss, making 27 saves. Boxscore
