St. Louis Jr. Blues (32-6-0, 64 pts) vs North Iowa Bulls (32-4-4, 68 pts)
VENUE: North Iowa Arena, Mason City, Iowa
GAME TIMES: February 16 at 7:30 PM, February 17 at 7: 30PM (all times Central)
WHERE TO FOLLOW: All Jr. Blues games are streamed live on HockeyTV.com (subscription required). On Twitter, follow @JrBluesGameday for live updates.
A QUICK RECAP: The Jr. Blues continued their great run of form with a sweep at home of the Point Mallard Ducks, winning 5-2 and 9-4. Bud Winter, in his first games with the club since being picked up from Corpus Christi of the NAHL, won the Bauer/NA3HL First Star award for the Midwest Division after scoring four goals and two assists across the weekend.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: Always one of the strongest clubs in the NA3HL, this year the Bulls are once again leading the Central Division but are having to fend off a strong challenge for divisional supremacy from La Crosse, who trail them in the standings by just three points. Veteran forwards Tyler Bump and Mitch Dolter lead the way for the Bulls with 74 points (24 G, 50 A) and 62 points (31 G, 31 A) respectively, while goalie Colin Cain boasts a 1.74 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. North Iowa comes into the game off a series split at Granite City: earlier this year when they visited St. Louis they lost both games to the hosts, once in overtime and once in a shootout.
JUNIOR NOTES: Make sure to be at the Affton Ice Rink next Saturday as the Jr. Blues take on the Rochester Ice Hawks in the annual Frozen Cup game in support of research and treatment of autism-spectrum disorders. Commemorative jerseys will be auctioned off, as well as other items, and other great activities are planned. Faceoff is at 2 pm: follow the event using the social media hashtag #ShutOutAutism.
