Jr. Blues, Bandits set for three games this weekend



St. Louis Bandits--First Place in MidWest division
(21 wins--6 losses--2 OT losses--44 points overall)

Three Game Weekend Series
 (SPR on Fri. and Sun.-- STL on Sat.)

Friday night (12/16) -- Jr. Blues vs. Saint Louis Bandits -- 7:00 pm -- Nelson Center -- Springfield, IL
Saturday night (12/17) -- Jr. Blues @ Saint Louis Bandits -- 6:00 pm -- Hardees Center -- Saint Louis, MO
Sunday night (12/18) -- Jr. Blues vs. Saint Louis Bandits -- 4:00 pm -- Nelson Center -- Springfield, IL

T-Cobb's Weekend Preview:

The Springfield Junior Blues broke the barrier of 500 franchise wins last weekend--and with the second half of the North American Hockey League season right around the corner, it's time for the team to focus on something even bigger, and something even better: the MidWest division title.

Yep, I said it. The MidWest division championship. And if there is one way to get back into contention for that accomplishment, it MUST start with beating the divisions top team, the Saint Louis Bandits--who are currently ahead of third-place Springfield by a total of 19 points heading into the weekend series.

The two teams have met a total of five times so far in 2011, and Saint Louis holds a slight edge in the series with winning three of the five. The teams have only met once in Springfield, and that resulted in a 4-0 win for the Bandits' with Spencer Viele recording a shutout in the process.

Coming off a huge weekend from Josef Pontasch, he captured the NAHL's second star of the week. He helped move the team into third place following Sunday's 7-4 win over Chicago when he scored three goals, making him third in points on the team this season with 29 in 28 games thus far.

Kyle Cook and Chris Sitler both currently are tied atop of the team in points for the season with 30. Cook has scored a team-high fifteen goals in twenty-seven games, while Sitler leads the team with 19 assists and has been a big reason to the recent success from the Junior Blues.

The Bandits are led by Joe Kalisz, who currently leads the team with 38 points through 29 games played. Kalisz has scored 17 goals and dished out twenty-one as well. Also contributing big for St. Louis is the likes of Joe Birmingham and Frank Dichiara. Birmingham currently has eighteen assists on the season and has 27 points while Dichiara has 25 points on the season with twelve points. The Bandits get a lot of players to contribute though as they have eleven players that have atleast thirteen points or more--and five with atleast 22 points already.

As for the goalies for the two teams, Spencer Viele is the obvious man behind the net for St. Louis, as Springfield seen first-hand when he shutout the Jr. Blues out on December 2nd inside the Nelson Center. In twenty three starts, Viele is currently 16-5-1 with a goals-against-average of 2.18, and a .920 saves percentage. He also has three shutouts on the season.

As for the Junior Blues' situation protecting the net, Tyler Parks and Connor Girard have been basically splitting the time as of late. Parks is 7-5-1 on the season with 38 goals allowed--while Girard is currently 4-7-0 on the season with 39 goals allowed, and one shutout--which occured on November 19 against Topeka.

There is still a lot of hockey to be played, and if this team has any chance at making some noise towards the MidWest division title, it has got to start tomorrow night inside the Nelson Center. Stand up Springfield!!!!