The St. Louis Jr. Blues beat the Peoria Mustangs 2-1 on Saturday night closing out the 2010-11 regular season play. The game was lining up to be a big game between the leagues top two teams for the right to go to USA Hockey Tier III Jr. A Nationals. However, the drama was lost on Friday night when Peoria lost in a Shoot-out to the Quad City Jr. Flames, securing the Jr. Blues league championship. With a win, the Mustangs would have tied St. Louis in points, but would have lost the bid in the NA3HL tie-breaks. As it stands, the loss dropped the Mustangs to 3rd place behind the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks.
The Jr. Blues will be trying to defend their Tier III Jr. A National Championship. Three teams from the NA3HL will receive Nationals bids and the two remaining will be decided in the Hurster Cup Finals. The playoff pairings are:
Quad City @ St. Louis
Queen City @ Cleveland
Toldedo @ Peoria
Chicago @ Pittsburgh
Says Head Coach J.P. Beilsten, "This weekend will be a good test for every team in the league. I don't see any 'gimmes' this weekend. Any one of these teams can win their series and advance to Toledo in two weeks."
The Hurster Cup Finals will be held in Toledo, OH with the winners of the best-of-three series advancing.
