Friday Finals: Flying Aces, North Stars pick up big wins
Chicago Junior Bulldogs 4 @ Minnesota Flying Aces 5 (SO): The Minnesota Flying Aces pulled out a back and forth game between themselves and the Chicago Junior Bulldogs winning in a shootout 5-4. The Flying Aces came out firing as they scored the first three goals of the game including a goal and an assist from Anthony Martinez to go ahead early. The Junior Bulldogs started their comeback in the 2nd period as Kyle Pierce and Matt Kostopoulos picked up goals late to cut the lead to one. Andrew Fattore sored just over 8 minutes into the final period to tie the game at 3 but it wasn’t long before AJ Gullickson tallied to give the Flying Aces the lead they held all game. The game came down to a power play in which the Junior Bulldogs pulled their goaltender Michael Krch and Matt Blazkiewicz fired the puck to the back of the net to bring the game to overtime. Krch came up big in the extra frame as he stopped Eric Cruickshank in a rare penalty shot in overtime. The game came down to a shootout and it was the Flying Aces getting goals from Cruickshank and Bradee Thompson to secure the Minnesota victory. Boxscore
Breezy Point North Stars 7 @ Alexandria Blizzard 3: The Breezy Point North Stars pulled out a big road victory as they put up 7 goals and beat the Alexandria Blizzard. Breezy Point captain Crosby Steen was an offensive dynamo for the North Stars as he scored a goal and assisted on four more to pick up an impressive five-point night. The other hero for the North Stars was goaltender Joey Bergquist who turned away 48 Alexandria shots to pick up a big victory. Tom Schmidt and Mick Dhein both picked up three assists for the Blizzard and Hunter Drake scored twice in the loss. Boxscore
