St. Louis Jr. Blues at New Ulm Steel
VENUE: New Ulm Civic Center, New Ulm, Minn.
GAME TIMES: November 14 at 7:10 pm, November 15 at 7:10 pm (all times Central)
WHERE TO FOLLOW: All Jr. Blues games are streamed live on HockeyTV.com (subscription required). On Twitter, follow @JrBluesHockey and follow @stljrblues on Instagram for live updates, and search “St. Louis Jr. Blues” on Youtube for highlights.
A QUICK RECAP: The Jr. Blues got a road split last weekend at Peoria, winning 4-3 on Saturday night before dropping a 3-1 decision on Sunday afternoon.
MANY HAPPY RETURNS: Saturday’s win over Peoria was head coach Chris Flaugher’s 200th win as an NA3HL head coach. Since taking over behind the bench in 2013-14, the Jr. Blues have made it to the Fraser Cup Finals in four of his six seasons and have won two regular-season division titles.
CONTINUING A LEGACY: Joey Solimando will be wearing a different number beginning this weekend, as he has swapped his #57 for the number 8. In changing his number, he will be also honoring his maternal grandfather Barclay Plager: the late captain and coach of the Blues had the number 8 retired by the Blues in 1981
SCOUTING THE STEEL: After missing the playoffs last season, the men from New Ulm have made a solid start to the 2019-20 campaign, entering the weekend with a 7-4-2 record. Veteran forwards Jacob Halvorson (9 G, 10 A) and Keegan Bauman (8 G, 8 A) pace the Steel’s attack, while goaltending has been a team effort—they have used five different men in the nets this season. The last time these two clubs faced each other was at the 2017 NA3HL Showcase in Blaine: there the Steel ran out 4-2 winners.
JUNIOR NOTES: New Ulm is unique amongst all NA3HL teams in that their home rink has an Olympic-size ice surface: the only other time most players encounter the “big ice” is at the Showcase, as the NSC Super Rink’s four main sheets are all Olympic dimensions.
