Behind a great game by Matt Kroska, who had two goals and two assists, the xNorth Iowa Bulls defeated the St. Louis Jr. Blues, 10-1.
Kroska\’s tallies came at 9:06 into the first period to make the score 2-0 xNorth Iowa and 5:26 into the second to make the score 6-1 xNorth Iowa.
St. Louis was stymied by xNorth Iowa netminder Jordan Moran, who stopped 26 shots during the victory. Moran certainly lowered his goals against average, which was 3.23 entering the contest.
The Bulls forced Jr. Blues\’ goaltenders to work hard to keep the puck out of the net, firing 57 shots and forcing 47 saves. Cooper Cothran made 19 stops and Billy Hindle made 28. xNorth Iowa stifled the Jr. Blues\’ power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man. The Bulls\’ goal total was higher than their season average. This season, xNorth Iowa averages 6.9 goals per contest.
xNorth Iowa additionally got points from Richie Marenis, who also had one goal and two assists, Austin Jackson, who also grabbed one goal and one assist, Cameron Brown, who also finished with one goal and one assist, and Timothy Santopoalo, who also registered one goal and two assists. Others who scored for xNorth Iowa included Ron Lindgren, Logan Murphy, Conor Jonasson, and Wesley Iverson, who scored one goal each. In addition, xNorth Iowa received assists from Brandon Anderson, who had one and Kyle Krueger, who had two.
St. Louis was held below its usual level of production. The Jr. Blues average 4.2 goals per game. St. Louis was forced to rely heavily on their penalty kill unit throughout the game, as it racked up 32 penalty minutes.
The Bulls incurred 16 minutes in penalty time with eight minors. The Jr. Blues registered zero goals on five power play opportunities.
