Jr. Blues Sneak Past the Metro Jets 5-2!

 

The game started very poorly for the Jr. Blues as the Jets scored on their first 2 shots taking a 2-0 lead just 2 minutes into the game.  C.J. Jung got things going the Jr. Blues way as he scored a power play goal from the point.  Grant Boyd and Chris Hutton assisted on the goal.  Phil Blackwood then tied the score on the power play with an accurate wrister with Chris Hutton and C.J. Jung assisting.  The Jr. Blues scored the only goal of the second period as Sam Davis one-timed a perfect pass from Jay Roux.  The cycling play also included Ryan Devine who assisted.  Paul Zuke who has been a bit snake-bitten in the goal scoring finally got one to go scoring his first CSHL goal early in the 3rd period.  Sam Davis assisted on the goal.  Moments later Chris Hutton scored off a perfect Phil Blackwood pass on a 3 on 2 break to finish the scoring.  Stuart Scott was strong in nets after the first two shots he shut the Jets down the rest of the way with 32 consecutive saves.  The Jr. Blues face the first place Dubuque Thunderbirds this weekend at Affton.

 

GAME STATS

Phil Blackwood back from a weekend off due to illness made his presence felt scoring a goal an adding 2 assists.

Jr. Blues Lose to Flint in OT

 

The Jr. Blues have been in many close battles this year and unfortunately have let a few slip away.  J.P. Burkemper got the Jr. Blues going in the second shift of the game.  Burkemper used his speed and drove around the defense and slipped the puck past the Flint goaltender.  C.J. Jung assisted on the goal.  Midway through the period, the Jr. Generals tied the score.  But just one minute later, Chris Hutton gave the Jr. Blues the lead.  After a ridiculous call against the Jr. Blues on a slash that never occurred the Jr. Generals scored on the power play to tie the score.  Then late in the period, a Flint player lost an edge and fell.  The official put his arm up again giving the Jr. Generals another power play.  The Jr. Gen's took the lead with a power play goal making the score 3-2 after one period.  After two successful penalty kills, both questionable calls at best, the Jr. Blues took to the power play.  Chris Hutton drove into the zone forcing the Flint defenseman to trip him giving the Jr. Blues a 5 on 3 power play.  The Jr. Blues wasted little time as Andrew Kurlandski tapped home a beautiful pass from Phil Blackwood to tie the score.  C.J. Jung also assisted on the goal.  Moments later the Flint defense was once again guilty of tripping a speedy St. Louis forward after they were beat.  Phil Blackwood scored one of the prettier goals of the year as he picked up a pass from goaltender Max Ozawa in his own zone.  Blackwood beat 2 defenders and wristed a rocket over the goaltender's shoulder to give the Jr. Blues the lead.  Moments later Chris Hutton swiped in mid-air a puck for an apparent goal that the referee ruled was hit with a high stick.  Tape replay clearly showed otherwise.  Later in the period the Jr. Blues were faced with a 2 minute 5 on 3 penalty kill.  The Jr. Blue successfully killed the penalties and for good measure killed another penalty keeping the score 4-3 St. Louis after 2 periods.  After each team traded power plays in the third period, the St. Louis defense made a blunder which led to the Flint tying goal with just under 4 minutes remaining.  In Overtime, each team had good opportunities but once again the official became the controversy of the game.  A St. Louis forward was given a holding call in the OT, unbelievable and as ridiculous as the call was, the Jr. Blues still needed to kill the penalty.  Flint took advantage of the gift call as they scored the game winning OT goal with a tremendous shot to win the game.

 

GAME STATS

Jr. Blues Sweep the Ice Dogs with an Ozawa Shutout!

 

Max Ozawa was this game's star as he recorded his first CSHL shutout making 19 saves.  After a scoreless first period, the Jr. Blues struck twice in the second period.  Ryan Devine started the play in the defensive zone and flew down the ice creating a 2 on 2 rush.  Sam Davis out hustled his check and went hard to the net and tapped in the perfect Devine pass to score the first goal of the game.  Later in the period, Chris Hutton banged home a rebound on the power play to make it 2-0.  Sam Davis and Andrew Kurlandski assisted on the goal.  In the closing seconds of the game, Zach Hamilton put a little icing on the cake as he one-timed a Chris Hutton pass on as 2 on 1.  Grant Boyd made the play assisting on the goal creating the 2 on 1.  The Jr. Blues now head to Michigan for two tough games in Flint and Metro on September 29 and 30. 

 

GAME STATS

Zach Hamilton scored a third period goal and then the game winning goal in the shootout for the Jr. Blues.

Ryan Devine received the game puck for his big assist and tremendous hard work especially on the penalty kill for the Jr. Blues.

Jr. Blues Win Shootout Thriller!

 

The talented Michigan Ice Dogs came to play in the Saturday night contest.  After a scoreless first period, the Ice Dogs scored early in the second period on the power play.  The Jr. Blues then had a 5 on 3 power play.  After several good Jr. Blues scoring chances the Ice Dogs cleared their zone.  Two of the Ice Dogs headed towards their bench exhausted looking for a line change.  Grant Boyd recognized the opportunity quickly turned the puck and streaked towards the Michigan zone.  The Jr. Blues seemingly had a 5 on 1 break.  Boyd made a perfect drop pass to Andrew Kurlandski who wristed it past the goaltender to tie the score.  In the third period Paul Zuke started the next scoring play with an indirect pass from deep in his zone to Ryan Devine.  Devine flew into the Michigan zone creating a 2 on 1 break.  Sam Davis drove the net and received a perfect pass from Devine.  Davis made a nice backhand move to give the Jr. Blues the lead.  That lead wouldn't last long as the Ice Dogs tied the score on a 5 on 3 power play.  With less than 4 minutes to play, the Jr. Blues found themselves on a power play.  Zach Hamilton banged home a Chris Hutton rebound to give the Jr. Blues the lead once again.  The play started with CJ Jung's perfect feed to Hutton.   Unfortunately that lead was short lived as the Ice Dogs tied the score with just over 2 minutes to go, forcing overtime.  After a scoreless overtime the game would be decided with a shootout.  The Jr. Blues second shooter, Chris Hutton scored the first goal of the shootout.  The Ice Dogs then tied it on the next shot.  Zach Hamilton then scored on the Jr. Blues next shot.  Max Ozawa, still smarting from his last shootout loss, was determined not to let it happen again as he made two great saves on the next two shots giving the Jr. Blues the shootout win.  Ozawa was very strong in net making 30 saves on 33 shots.

 

GAME STATS

Jr. Blues Lose to the Whalers

 

Just when it looked like the young Jr. Blues squad had made considerable progress, the team regressed with a poor performance.  The Jr. Blues played well at times but the Whalers capitalized on their mistakes.  The Whalers scored the only goal in the first period.  The Whalers then scored 3 goals in the second.  Phil Blackwood scored early in the third with a great shot on the power play with Grant Boyd assisting.  The Whalers then added two late goals to make the final 6-1.  The Jr. Blues enjoyed seeing their former assistant coach Tom Winkler who is on the Whalers coaching staff.  This weekend the Jr. Blues play two big games against the strong Michigan Ice Dogs at Affton.

Phil Blackwood netted a short handed game winning goal and added two assists to lead the Jr. Blues over the Hampton Roads Whalers.

Ryan Devine scored his first Jr. Blues goal in the third period.

Jr. Blues Defeat Hampton Roads Whalers 6-3!

 

The St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated the Hampton Roads Whalers Jr. A squad in this exhibition match-up.  The Whalers scored first 12 minutes into the contest.  Chris Hutton tied the score on a 3 on 2 break with a quick low shot.  Phil Blackwood and John Scheiter assisted on the goal.  Andrew Kurlandski gave the Jr. Blues the lead on the power play with a quick shot of his own.  Grant Boyd and Phil Blackwood assisted on the goal.  Nick Garlik used his speed pulling away from the defense in the neutral zone and scoring on the backhand breakaway move.  The play started with Tyler Polizzi winning a battle deep in the defensive zone and then JP Burkemper chipping the puck to Garlik.  With the Jr. Blues shorthanded, Chris Hutton fought his way down the wing through two checks and delivered a shot on goal.  Phil Blackwood hustling on the play knocked the rebound in out of midair to make it 4-1 St. Louis.  The Whalers scored a late 2nd period goal to make it 4-2.  The third period started strong for the Jr. Blues as Ryan Devine scored to make it 5-2.  The goal was set up by a good forecheck by Zach Hamilton who assisted on the goal.  Chuck Avery then scored the Jr. Blues 6th goal on a one timer on the power play off a pass from Paul Zuke.  Zach Hamilton also assisted on the goal.  Max Ozawa was very strong in net as he made 42 saves on 45 shots.

Andrew Kurlandski's Hat-trick Wins the Game for the Jr. Blues!

 

The Jr. Blues were stung the night before in the shootout loss and were determined to pull out the win on Sunday.   The Steam scored the first goal of the game on the power play early in the 1st period.  Nick Garlik scored his first CSHL goal as he deflected an Anthony Condellire shot from the point.  Early in the second period, Andrew Kurlandski knocked home a rebound off of Chris Hutton's shot.  CJ Jung also assisted on the power play goal.  The Jr. Blues held a 2-1 lead after two periods.  The Steam scored two quick goals in the third period to take the lead.  The Jr. Blues Captain, Andrew Kurlandski, then took the game into his own hands.  Chris Hutton took a bad angle shot that Kurlandski tapped home on the rebound to tie the score with under 7 minutes remaining.  Kurlandski then got the game winner as he streaked down the left wing and let a quick shot go, beating the goaltender on the short side.  Phil Blackwood and Chris Hutton assisted on the goal.  Moments later Tyler Polizzi scored his first CSHL goal as JP Burkemper set him up with a beautiful 2 on 1 pass.  Nick Garlik started the play in the neutral zone taking a big hit to set up the 2 on 1.  Phil Blackwood then scored an empty net goal with Kurlandski assisting to make the final 6-3.  The Jr. Blues penalty killers were tremendous the entire game killing 12 of 13 penalties while the Jr. Blues scored 2 power play goals on only 3 power plays.  Stuart Scott was very strong in net making 36 saves on 39 shots. 

 

GAME STATS

Jr. Blues Salvage a Point With Late Goal

 

The Jr. Blues made their first trip of the season to Cincinnati to play the Queen City Steam.  The Jr. Blues got the first goal of the game as CJ Jung made a great rush on the power play and passed to Andrew Kurlandski who wristed it by the goaltender.  The Steam tied the score on a power play just one minute later.  The Jr. Blues Sam Davis scored his first CSHL goal in his first game on the power play with a quick wrist shot from the slot.  CJ Jung set Davis up and Chris Hutton also assisted.  The only goal of the second period was scored by the Steam.  The Steam then took the lead with just under 6 minutes to go in regulation.  The Jr. Blues had a late power play and also pulled their goaltender.  Zach Hamilton picked a great time to net his first CSHL goal with 28 seconds remaining in the game.  Grant Boyd and Chris Hutton assisted on the goal.  After a five minute OT period which saw the Jr. Blues take 10 shots, the game came down to a shoot out.  The load home crowd really got into the shootout with the many twists and turns.  The Steam scored first, then the Jr. Blues came back with goals by Zach Hamilton and Grant Boyd.  The Steam then scored with their last two shooters to win the shootout 3-2.

 

GAME STATS

Jr. Blues Win 3-1 Over Quad City Flames

 

The Jr. Blues evened the score against the Flames with a solid 3-1 victory.  J.P. Burkemper scored his first CSHL goal on a breakaway to give the Jr. Blues the lead.  The Flames tied the score with a short handed goal early in the second.  Chris Hutton then scored on the power play who was at the receiving end of a great passing play from Phil Blackwood and CJ Jung.   With the Jr. Blues shorthanded in the third period clinging to a one goal lead, Justin Roux stole the puck deep in the Flames zone.  Justin found his brother Jay all alone in front who made no mistake in scoring his first CSHL goal.  Max Ozawa was terrific in goal making 25 saves on 26 shots earning his first CSHL win.   The Jr. Blues travel to Cincinnati this weekend to take on the tough Queen City Steam.

 

GAME STATS

Jr. Blues Lose Home Opener

 

It's been 5 years since the Jr. Blues lost their Home Opener.  That season, they went on to lose in the National Championship Game.  The Jr. Blues also lost for the first time to the Quad City Flames who changed their name this summer from the Express.  The Flames scored a power play goal just 2 minutes into the game.  The Jr. Blues responded with a power play goal themselves with Chris Hutton scoring his first CSHL goal as Andrew Kurlandski and Phil Blackwood assisted.    The Flames took the lead moments later and held the 2-1 advantage after one period.  The second period started very poorly for the Jr. Blues as the Flames scored just after a penalty expired to take a 3-1 lead.  The Flames continued to pressure and scored again for a 4-1 lead.  Phil Blackwood chipped in a Hutton rebound on the power play to cut the lead to 4-2.  CJ Jung started the play also assisted.  Blackwood blasted a shot on the power play in the third to cut the lead to 4-3 as the Jr. Blues looked poised for a come from behind win.  With less than 4 minutes remaining the Flames scored 2 goals within 12 seconds to make the final 6-3. 

 

GAME STATS

Bandits Beat Jr. Blues 6-1

The defending Jr. A National Champion St. Louis Bandits handled the young Jr. Blues with ease Wednesday night.  The Bandits used 3 power play goals to take a 3-0 lead halfway through the second period.  Two late second period goals made it 5-0 after two.  The Bandits scored early in the third to take a 6-0 lead.  CJ Jung broke the shutout on a pretty power play back door goal with Phil Blackwood and Grant Boyd assisting.  The game was a great tune up for the Jr. Blues using all their rostered players.   The Jr. Blues would like to once again thank Jon Cooper and the Bandits for the game and an opportunity for the young Jr. Blues to play against one of the top programs in the NAHL.