Steel Suffer Loss to Jr. Blues
Despite a strong effort, the Steel suffered a loss to the Springfield Jr. Blues 6-4 and ended the weekend series 0-2.
The Blues brought their momentum from last night and Brandon Puricelli had an unassisted goal to start the first period. The Steel’s Jacob Dirks didn’t wait long before he found the back of the net on the powerplay, he was assisted by Connor Szmul and Camden Thiesing. Connor Szmul broke the tie and took the lead for the Steel with an assist from Grisha Gotovets. With less than a minute left, the Blues’ Cade Groton got a goal of his own to tie up the game going into the second period.
The Blues didn’t wait long before Lukas Kucera broke the tie early in the second period. They increased their lead by two more goals both from Ben Schmidling.
Isaac Moberg added a goal to the board with an assist from Hunter Weiss in the third period. The Blues came back with a powerplay goal from Max Brainin assisted by Brandon Puricelli and Nikita Kozyrev. The Steel didn’t give up and Braiden Dorfman found the back of the net on the powerplay with assists from Jacob Dirks and Camden Thiesing to bring the final score to 6-4.
Starting in goal tonight for the Steel was Igor Samokhvlov with 20 saves. Midway through the second period, Josh Langford stepped in and recorded 7 saves out of 9. For the Blues was Janis Voris with 25 saves.
The Steel are back on home ice Friday, March 22nd for Pepsi Family 4 Pack Night. Fans can get 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 bags of chips, and 4 sodas for just $45. Fans can get tickets at the door or online at chippewasteelhockey.com.
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The Chippewa Steel are members of the NAHL which is the oldest and largest junior hockey league of its kind in the United States and one of only two USA Hockey-certified leagues that operate under the non pay-to-play model. The NAHL is also one of the best at advancing players to NCAA and professional hockey. Notable Alumni of the NAHL include Ryan Suter (MIN), Patrick Kane (CHI) and Phil Kessel (PIT) All league games are viewable via HockeyTV. For more information, visit chippewasteelhockey.com.