The Weekend Wrap-up: vs. Chicago Hitmen

Chris Sitler and the Jr. Blues reached the 500-win
department on Saturday night when they defeated the
Chicago Hitmen, 9-to-3, inside the Nelson Center.

Friday's Game- Chicago 6 @ Springfield 4 - The Chicago Hitmen scored the last five goals to rally past the Springfield Junior Blues 6-4 Friday in a North American Hockey League game at Nelson Center in Springfield. Chicago defenseman Alex Murphy had a goal and four assists for the Hitmen, who trailed 4-1 after the Junior Blues’ Ethan Nauman scored his second goal of the night in the 2nd period. Alec DeAngelo started the Chicago comeback with a goal at 18:30 of the second, then the Hitmen scored four times in the third period despite getting outshot 21-9. Murphy cut the Junior Blues’ lead to 4-3 at 2:03, and Zach Mudge scored to tie it at 5:26. The Hitmen took their first lead of the game when David Gandara scored at 18:51, and Mudge made it 6-4 with his second goal, into an empty net at 19:52. Nick Kohn made 42 saves for the Hitmen, who were outshot 46-34 for the game. Junior Blues goalie Connor Girard gave up five goals on 33 shots. Cody Dixon and Kyle Cook scored in the second period for the Junior Blues.

Saturday's Game- Chicago 3 @ Springfield 9 – The Jr. Blues picked up their 500th win in team history defeating the Hitmen, 9-3. Springfield jumped out to a 6-0 lead midway through the game and cruised from there. Kyle Cook, Chris Sitler and Garrett Williams each had two goals and Gavin Tufte, Kevin Walters and Josef Pontasch all had three points in the win. Anthony Annunziato had two goals for the Hitmen in the loss.

Sunday's Game- Chicago 4 @ Springfield 7 – The Jr. Blues score three times on the power play and got a hat-trick from Josef Pontasch as they took two of three games in the weekend series from the Hitmen with a 7-4 win Sunday night. Ethan Nauman and Chris Sitler also chipped in with three points apiece. Springfield outshot the Hitmen 45-25 and led comfortably 5-1 after two periods. Zach Schrotenboer and Shigenobu Kakudate each had a goal and assist in the loss for Chicago.