NA3HL Showcase in full swing after competitive Day 2
Day 3 of the NA3HL Showcase begins at 10:15am.
Watch all the games live on FASTHockey
Updated scores and stats can be found here
Day 2 summaries
St. Louis Jr. Blues 4 @ Alexandria Blizzard 3: Andrew Kovacich factored in to three of four St. Louis goals as he paced the Jr. Blues offense to a 4-3 victory over the Alexandria Blizzard. The Jr. Blues snapped a seven game losing streak as they opened their NA3HL Showcase schedule with a big win. Kovacich blocked a shot while on the penalty kill and took the puck on a breakaway sliding it through the five hole of Alexandria goalie Evan Bisek to give his team the early 1-0 lead. The start of the 2nd period saw the teams trade power play goals and the Jr. Blues jumped to a two-goal lead when Alex Carlsson put home a pass from Kovacich. The Blizzard put an early goal in to cut the lead to one but Mike Lozano struck for his 2nd goal of the game to give the Jr. Blues the insurance goal and the lead for good. St. Louis goalie Billy Hindle stopped 30 shots for the win. Boxscore
Breezy Point North Stars 6 @ Sugar Land Imperials 3: Jon Plaszcz scored 4 goals including a hat trick in the 2nd period as he led the Breezy Point North Stars to a 6-3 victory over the Sugar Land Imperials. Plaszcz, a member of the 2013 NA3HL Top Prospects tournament, now has 7 points in 7 games on the season. He opened the scoring just two minutes into the first period but exploded for three goals in the middle frame. Plaszcz received offensive help from Kyle Eberwein, who assisted on the final three Breezy Point goals. The Sugar Land Imperials received a good game from Eligah Bordak, who got a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to four games. Boxscore
Metro Jets 1 @ Granite City Lumberjacks 8: The Granite City Lumberjacks were impressive on the power play as the converted each time they had a chance going 5 for 5 during their 8-1 victory over the Metro Jets. The Metro Jets jumped out to the early one goal lead as Cooper McLean found the back of the net four minutes into the 1st period. After the McLean goal it was all Granite City as they scored eight unanswered goals during the game. Zac Sikich who buried one goal and added three assists for a 4-point night led the Granite City attack. Granite City goaltender Austin Wilson made 22 saves to pick up his 9th win of the season. Boxscore
Pittsburgh Vengeance 4 @ Minnesota Flying Aces 2: A big opening period led to three goals for the Pittsburgh Vengeance as they used their early momentum to beat the Minnesota Flying Aces 4-2. The Vengeance struck early and often including a penalty shot from Lukas Friberger and finished the first period with a 3-1 lead. Minnesota made a goaltending change after the 3 goals from Mike Stumpf to Jaxson Gosnell, who came in and made 15 saves in a relief effort. The Vengeance offense was a dual effort as both Tom Diffendal and Nicholas Santiago ended the game with three points. Minnesota received both of their goals from the teams 2nd leading scorer AJ Gullickson. Boxscore
Wisconsin Whalers 4 @ Topeka Capitals 3: Ryan Martin scored his 3rd goal of the night and 4th goal for the Whalers just seconds after the game was tied by Topeka and the Whalers pulled out a tight one 4-3. Martin, whose scored his first hat trick of the season, tallied at 18:26 of the 3rd period a mere 24 seconds after the game was tied by a Yu Hikosaka power play goal. The two teams battled back and forth all night as the lead never reached higher than one. Attempting to counteract the offense of Martin was the Capitals Hikosaka, who scored two goals and extended his point streak to 13 games. Topeka goaltender Jude Hull stopped 31 shots in defeat and Tyler Lewis earned the win stopping 20 shots in net for Wisconsin. Boxscore
Cincinnati Swords 0 @ Twin City Steel 4: Twin City goaltender Jordan Moran earned his 2nd shutout and win of the season as he stymied the Cincinnati Swords in a 4-0 victory. Moran, who stopped 28 Cincinnati shots, earned his other victory of the year when he shutout the Minnesota Flying Aces earlier this month. The Steel spread out their scoring as four different players lit the lamp including goals from Jace Childs, Alex Konnov, Chase Myers-Beck and Ben Ihire. Cincinnati goaltender Joe Sheppard stopped 30 shots taking the loss for the Swords. Boxscore
Battle Creek Jr. Revolution 1 @ Toledo Cherokee 9: Tyler Zalecki continues his hot scoring streak as he scored a hat trick and added two assists as the Toledo Cherokee beat the Battle Creek Jr. Revolution 9-1. Zalecki, who is the Cherokees returning leading scorer, now has 28 points in 20 games on the season and is looking to improve on the 52 he scored last season. Zalecki was not the only Cherokee to score a hat trick during the game as Brody Duncan found the twine three times as well for Toledo. The Cherokee got off to a hot start as they rattled off seven straight goals before Brandon Benaglio beat Toledo goaltender Nate Gay for his 2nd goal of the season. Gay, who stopped 13 shots, picked up his 2nd win of the season. Boxscore
Chicago Junior Bulldogs 0 @ Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks 5: Nick Balavich and Alex Buban both scored two goals for the Jr. Lumberjacks as they took down the Chicago Junior Bulldogs 5-0. Balavich got Cleveland on the board as he got both of his tallies in the opening frame to give the Lumberjacks the early two-goal lead. Buban split up his two goals getting one in the 2nd period and one to open up the final frame. That’s all the offense that Cleveland goaltender Joseph Moza would need as he stopped all 24 Junior Bulldogs shots that came his way. This was Moza’s 7th win on the season and 1st shutout of the year. Joey Garapolo stopped 36 shots in defeat as he lost his first game in three starts earning victories in his two previous starts. Boxscore
Dallas Jr. Stars 2 @ Peoria Mustangs 6: The Peoria Mustangs paced their offense scoring two goals in each period to beat the Dallas Jr. Stars 6-2. The Mustangs got off to a slow start but picked it up in the final minutes of the first scoring 15 seconds apart when Andrew Scofield scored first and Josh Hart lit the lamp not long after. Scofield got his second of the night to give the Mustangs a three goal lead before Dallas got on the board courtesy of Maxim Ledyankin. The Mustangs continued to pepper Dallas goaltender with shots and found the back of the net three more times before the end of the game. The Mustangs are now on an 11 game winning streak that dates back to October 19th. Boxscore
Flint Junior Generals 1 @ North Iowa Bulls 3: In the battle of undefeated teams it was the North Iowa Bulls that came out on top and put a screeching halt to the Flint Junior Generals record breaking win streak by winning 3-1. The first period ended in a scoreless tie as both teams were still in the feeling out process and each goaltender started strong, as the shots were 8-6 in North Iowa’s favor. It was the Junior Generals who found the back of the net first as Caleb Ganelli beat Dylan Parker to give Flint the early one goal lead. NA3HL leading scorer Timothy Santopoalo found Brandon Anderson with a pass and Anderson put the puck by Flint goaltender Anders Franke to tie the game at 1. That’s when #12 in white decided to put the game in his hands as North Iowa forward Richie Marenis took a pass in the slot and wired a shot over Franke’s right shoulder to give North Iowa a 2-1 lead. Marenis struck again late in the 3rd period for his 2nd of the night and 18th of the season to put the Junior Generals win streak to an end. Both teams battled hard in the final minutes but when the buzzer sounded it was North Iowa who was ahead on the scoreboard and picking up a win to go 15-0-0 on the season. Boxscore
