The St. Louis Jr. Blues survived a determined comeback attempt by the Chicago Junior Bulldogs on the way to a 5-3 win.
St. Louis made the score 5-2 on a goal by Adam Roeder at 9:49 in the third period, and Chicago got as close as 5-3 when Toms Taurins scored 17:46 into the third period.
Andrew Kovacich had two goals to lead the Jr. Blues to victory. Kovacich\’s tallies came at 8:39 into the first period to make the score 1-0 St. Louis and on the power play 17:33 into the first to make the score 3-1 St. Louis.
St. Louis forced the Junior Bulldogs goalie Michael Paku to work between the pipes, taking 43 shots.
St. Louis also had goals scored by Tommy Heinzman and maxwell cobb, who each put in one. In addition, St. Louis received assists from Zane OBryan, Alexander Carlsson, Adam Havener, and Christian Argyros, who each chipped in one and Tyler Opilka and Alex Klaesner, who contributed two a piece.
Chicago was led by Matt Kostopoulos, who racked up one goal and one assist. Kostopoulos scored on the power play 15:06 into the first period to make the score 2-1 St. Louis. The Junior Bulldogs had gotten the advantage when the Jr. Blues\’ Klaesner was sent off for interference. Jeremy Szczurek provided the assist. Max Piper also scored for Chicago. Other players who recorded assists for Chicago were Dan Marotz, Luke Morin, and Henry Hearon, who each chipped in one.
Cooper Cothran made 20 saves for St. Louis on 23 shots. The Jr. Blues incurred 12 minutes in penalty time with six minors. Paku recorded 38 saves for Chicago. The Junior Bulldogs incurred 10 minutes in penalty time with five minors.