Jr. Blues collapse late in third period; Wings win in shootout, 3-2

Less than twenty-four hours later following the Springfield Junior Blues dramatic come-from-behind win in a shootout on a Friday night; Saturday night featured much of the same story--except this time, the Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings were on the winning side of things.

The Jr. K-Wings got the game-tying goal from Jacob McDowell with just ten seconds remaining in regulation; and following a scoreless overtime period, Kalamazoo outshot Springfield 3-to-1 in the four-round shootout to defeat the Junior Blues 3-to-2 inside the Nelson Center in a North American Hockey League regular season contest.

Kalamazoo got a powerplay goal from Brandon Flood at 9:38 of the first period--and they led 1-0 at the first intermission. Then the Junior Blues' Tyler Rehm scored a goal just 48-seconds into the second and Friday night's shootout-hero for Springfield, Mitch Rogge, followed with a goal of his own just 3:18 into the period; just 150 seconds later, to give the Junior Blues a 2-1 lead.

Following the two quick second-period goals from Springfield, the rest of the second period was dominated by good goalie performances from both teams. The entire third-period was scoreless, as the Wings had 17 shots on goal, and the Blues had 14. Kalamazoo proceeded to trail 2-1 throughout most of the game, but with just 10 seconds remaining in regulation, the K-Wings took advantage of the extra-man advantage by netting the game-tying goal from McDowell, and forcing overtime.

The two teams played a scoreless overtime as the Junior Blues had three shots on goal, and Kalamazoo had just one shot. The game ended in a shootout as the Wings scored goals on there first three chances, while Springfield scored just one time, which was scored by Mike Williams in the third round. Andrew Graves, Brandon Flood, and Kyle Gattelaro netted goals in the shootout for Kalamazoo.

Gabe Antoni was in net for his second straight game following his team-debut in Friday night's victory, and he recorded the loss after he saved 33-of-35 shots, and played all 65-minutes. As for Kalamazoo, Kenneth MacLean was given the win as he saved 52-of-54 shots.

The Springfield offensive attack got a season-high 54 shots on goal--as both Mike Williams and Stewart Bell had eight shots apeice, Gavin Tufte got seven shots on goal, and Ben Kramer had six.

The Junior Blues gained a point despite the loss, and overall moved to 13-20-2 on the season. With the one point earned, Springfield moved into sole possession of third-place in the MidWest following a regulation loss by Coulee Region. The Jr. Blues will play two against first-place Saint Louis next weekend, with one game at home and one game on the road.

Kalamazoo-------------1--------0-------1-----(3) 3
Springfield-------------0--------2-------0-----(1) 2

Goals Scored:Kalamazoo-(1st) Brandon Flood (PP**Brett Beauvais) 9:38; (3rd) Jacob McDowell (Brandon Flood, Sean Campbell) 19:50
Springfield-(2nd) Tyler Rehm (Brett Skibba, Stewart Bell) 0:48; Mitch Rogge (Guan Wang, Cody Dixon) 3:18

Shootout Results
1st Round: SPR-Mitch Rogge (NO) KAL-Andrew Graves (YES) 1-0 KAL
2nd Round: SPR-Kyle Cook (NO) KAL-Brandon Flood (YES) 2-0 KAL
3rd Round: SPR-Mike Williams (YES) KAL-Kyle Gattelaro (YES) 3-1 KAL
4th Round: SPR-Kevin Walters (NO) KAL-Jacob McDowell (NO) 3-1 KAL final