This weekend, the Jr. Blues faced off against the the Wausau Cyclones for games 3 and 4 of a 6 game home stand. Saturday’s game was the First Responders Game, featuring fundraisers for Backstoppers. The Jr. Blues wore special Backstoppers jerseys, which were auctioned off after the game. There were also other donated items up for auction and a 50/50 raffle. About $2,000 was donated to Backstoppers as a result of the game. Pre-game festivities also featured an appearance from a police helicopter and a ceremonial puck drop.
Gus Immken started the scoring early for the Jr. Blues in the first game of the weekend against Wausau
Wausau entered the game having just split a 2-game series against division-leading Rochester, including a 3-2 victory the Sunday prior. But, the Jr. Blues jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just 2:13 into the game, thanks to a goal from Gus Immken (assisted by Carson Pishkur and Ryan Callahan). Wausau then scored twice over the next two and a half minutes. Jacob Horrall tied the game about halfway through the first (assists going to Carter Zimmer and Ken Henning). Halfway through the second, Immken finished on a sick back and forth 2 on 0 play with Pishkur for what would be the game-winning goal. Connor Westbrock would add an empty-net goal at the end of the game (assists from Henning and Immken).
Jacob Heuerman tallied a hat trick in Sunday’s 8-4 victory over Wausau
On Sunday, the Jr. Blues found themselves down 0-2 just 2:17 into the game. They would fight back to tie it by the halfway point of the period, thanks to goals from Jacob Heuerman (from Aaron Hemmer and Westbrock) and Carter Eifert (from Sean Boehm and Callahan). Wausau then grabbed another lead just seconds later. Then late in the period Heuerman (assisted by Henning) would tie the game again with a short-handed goal. Wausau regained the lead yet again early in the second. Undeterred, Callahan (assist Tyler Williams) tallied a short-handed goal on a 5-minute major penalty to tie the game. From there, the Jr. Blues wouldn’t look back, as they add a powerplay goal from Hemmer (assisted by Heuerman and Eifert), and goals from Boehm (assisted by Westbrock and Heuerman), Williams (assisted by Immken), and Heuerman’s hat trick goal (assisted byHemmer and Westbrock).
For the weekend, the Jr. Blues penalty kill went 10/10, including killing off a 5 -minute major, and adding 2 short-handed goals in the process. Jordan Behnen started both games, stopping 69/75 shots and earning 2 wins.
The Jr. Blues wrap up their home stand this weekend against Peoria with the Affton 50th anniversary game on Saturday at 3:30pm and the second game of the weekend match-up on Sunday at 11:00am.
