St. Louis Jr. Blues (4-4-1, 9 pts) vs. Oregon Tradesmen (7-5-0, 14 pts)
VENUE: Owens Center, Peoria, Ill.
TIMES: December 4 at 7:15 pm, December 5 at 1 pm (all times Central)
WHERE TO FOLLOW: All Jr. Blues games are streamed live on www.hockeytv.com (subscription required). Follow our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for live updates.
THE RECAP: St. Louis swept Milwaukee in their last series before the Thanksgiving break, winning 6-5 on November 20 and again 5-2 the next night. Forward Vinny Servizzi picked up Bauer/NA3HL Central Division Star of the Week honors after potting two goals and recording two assists across the two games. Other notable performances from the series include forwards Jared Bratton and Jack Dapron (both with 2 G, 1 A) and goaltender Owen Carlson, who stopped 34 of 36 shots on Saturday.
PLAYING IN PEORIA: Due to a combination of factors, the Jr. Blues were unable to host this weekend’s series in St. Louis. However, the Owens Center in Peoria was open for the weekend due to its normal tenants, the Mustangs, playing at Milwaukee this weekend, and we cannot thank the Mustangs and the Owens Center staff enough for helping us out. The Jr. Blues will remain the home team for both games, will wear their white jerseys, and will produce the game as a normal home fixture.
SCOUTING THE TRADESMEN: Oregon enters the weekend off a home split with Rochester, winning 4-2 on November 20 before dropping a 5-1 decision on November 21. They also recently claimed a 7-0 blanking of Wausau on November 28. The top line of Parker Severson (9 G, 8 A), Jacob Best (3 G, 11 A) and Sam VanderHoeven (6 G, 11 A) pace the men from Wisconsin, who have also been boosted with two pickups from the Grizzlies in forward Devin Hays and blue-liner Luke McKinch. Hunter Adams (4-4-0, 3.48 GAA, .898 SV%) has shouldered much of the load in goal, but he will see some relief with the recent acquisition of Michael Janke. Janke shut out Wausau last weekend and is no stranger to facing the Jr. Blues: last year with Coulee Region, he played the Jr. Blues three times and won all three, never allowing more than one goal against.
JUNIOR NOTES: No fans will be permitted to attend either of the Jr. Blues games in Peoria, so be sure to join Matt Kenyon on our HockeyTV.com broadcast….The Jr. Blues continue a tradition of St. Louis’ hockey links to Peoria: in 1993 the NHL Blues defeated Hartford in a neutral-site regular season game at the Peoria Civic Center before a sellout crowd of 9,013, and the Rivermen in both their IHL and AHL incarnations served as the Blues’ top farm club for many years.