Northland Sports Online

Wilderness Swept by Springfield

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Bill Wilson – NSO

 

 

 

Sam Craggs scored two goals to lead the Springfield Junior Blues past the Minnesota Wilderness 5-2  on Friday night in a North American Hockey League game at Nelson Center in Springfield IL.

Brady Tomlak added a goal and an assist and Jeff Skinner had two assists for the third-place Junior Blues (12-4-2), who moved within three points of the second-place Wilderness (14-6-1) in the Midwest Division.

Coale Norris gave the Junior Blues a 1-0 lead on an assist from Tomlak at 4 minutes 58 seconds of the first period. Minnesota’s Casey Gilling tied it on the power play at 10:43, then Craggs gave Springfield a 2-1 lead at 19:42 of the first.

Craggs increased the lead to 3-1 at 6:12 of the second, and Tomlak scored at 1:52 of the third for a 4-1 advantage. After Minnesota’s Ryan Bloom cut the lead to 4-2 at 5:46, Springfield’s Brennan Blaszczak scored an empty-net goal at 19:34.

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The Springfield Blues got goals from seven different players Saturday night as they took a 7-4 North American Hockey League victory over the Minnesota Wilderness.

The seven goals were a season high for Springfield, which swept the two-game series from Minnesota. The Junior Blues (13-4-2) have 28 points, which are one behind the second-place Wilderness in the NAHL Midwest Division.

The Junior Blues outshot the Wilderness 38-35 Saturday despite Springfield not having a single power play. Minnesota was 0-for-3 on power plays.

Springfield jumped to a quick 3-0 lead as Trevor Stone, Petr Kuznetsov and Danny Digrande scored goals at 14 seconds, 1:15 and 1:34 into the first period, respectively, Minnesota pulled starting goalkeeper Luke Kania and replaced him with Chase Munroe after Springfield’s second goal.

After Minnesota cut it to 3-2 early in the second period, Brennan Blaszczak and Matt Long scored to make it 5-2 Springfield midway through the period.

The Wilderness got back within 5-4 by the end of the second period before the Junior Blues’ Jeff Skinner and Brady Tomlak scored the only goals of the third period. Tomlak’s was an empty-net goal with less than 2 minutes to go.

Digrande, Long and Coale Norris had two assists apiece for the Junior Blues. Stone, Skinner and Tomlak added one assist each.

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