Day 3 of the NA3HL Showcase comes to a close

Day 3 of the NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, MN, featured some tight games and some blowouts as St. Louis, North Iowa, Granite City and Minnesota all remained unbeaten with wins. For all the boxscores and schedules, click here.

All the games on the final Day 4 can be watched live on FASTHockey.

St. Louis 4 vs. Flint 3 – St. Louis stayed perfect at the NA3HL Showcase with a close 4-3 win over Flint on Sunday.  The Jr. Blues jumped out to a 3-1 lead on goals from Lukas Daniels, Tyler Opilka and Kyle Meeh.  Flint countered to make it 3-2 on goals from Nick Gnagni and Brett Leppek.  A goal late in the 2nd period from St. Louis’s Mike Lozano proved to be the game winner as a late goal from Phillip Garza for Flint cut the lead to 4-3.

Cleveland 11 vs. Quad City 1 – The Jr. Lumberjacks fired 59 shots on goal, including 31 in the 3rd period on their way to a 11-1 win over the Jr. Flames.  12 players had multi-point games for Cleveland including Nick Balavich, Toms Taurins, Cameron Dimmitt and Brad Hepler, who each had two goals apiece.  Jake Roeper and Fred West had three assists apiece.  Peter Coppola scored the lone goal for Quad City in the loss.

Alexandria 8 vs. Three Rivers 1 – Ian Ecklund had two goals and two assists as Alexandria racked up 50 shots in an 8-1 win over the Vengeance, as the Blizzard improved to 2-1 at the NA3HL Showcase.  Ecklund scored both goals in the 1st period, which answered a goal from Three Rivers forward Nico Vecchio.  Alexandria scored six straight goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods from Mick Dhein, Garrett Skinner, Joe Anderson, Chayce Coenen and two from Ritchie Brown.

Metro 4 vs. Peoria 3 (SO) – Peoria erased a 3-1 Metro lead in the 3rd period, only to see the Jets score twice in the shootout to pick up their first win of the NA3HL Showcase.  Matt Stirling was the star of the game, scoring twice in regulation and adding a shootout goal for the hat-trick.  Jeff Monfils also scored for the Jets, while Cody Lichtenvoort, Brennan Anderson and Austin Wisely.

North Iowa 7 vs. Queen City 0 – In three wins at the NA3HL Showcase, the Bulls have outscored their opponents 21-2, which included a 7-0 shutout of the Steam on Sunday.  Tim Santopoalo scored twice and Tony Paulson, Kyle Krueger, John Forseth, Taylor Brown and Jake Johnson also scored for North Iowa.  Matthew Bartels made 12 saves for his second shutout of the season.

Granite City 6 vs. Michigan 2 – Dakoda Menslage had two goals and an assist as West Division-leading Granite City posted a 6-2 win over the Mountain Cats.  Granite City opened up a 4-0 lead with two goals from Menslage, one from Aaron Storch and another from Isaac Hoagland.  Guy Soulliere scored for Michigan to make it 4-1 before Granite City got two more from Aaron Azevedo and Zac Sikich.  Bryan Davis score the other goal for Michigan.

Minnesota 5 vs. Battle Creek 1 – Five different players scored for the Flying Aces as they moved their record to a perfect 3-0 at the Showcase with a 5-1 win over Battle Creek.  Jared Sprink, Payton Trammel, Dylan Nelson, Mark Dryer and Zach Randell all scored for the Flying Aces, who outshot Battle Creek 48-20.  Trevor Clark scored the lone goal for the Revolution.

Toledo 2 vs. Breezy Point 1 – In a battle of two hot goalies, it was Toledo’s Nate Miller who bested the North Stars Ian Shidlofsky in a goaltending battle in the final NA3HL Showcase game on Sunday.  After Breezy Point took an early 1-0 lead on goal from Andrew Sorben, Andrew Benyo tied it up at 1-1 later in the 1st period for Toledo.  Alec Gerred’s power play goal in the 3rd period proved to be the difference maker.