Jr. Blues rally to beat Kalamazoo in shootout, 3-2

Kyle Cook and his Springfield Junior Blues haven't had much to be very happy about lately with the team's recent struggles--but Friday night may have been a huge momentum-changer for head coach Joe Dibble and his team for the remainder of the season.

Despite trailing 2-0 throughout most of the game, Springfield rallied to score two goals in the third period to tie the game, got an eye-popping debut from new goalie Gabe Antoni, and the Junior Blues rallied to defeat the Kalamazoo Jr. K. Wings 3-to-2 in a shootout inside the Nelson Center in a North American Hockey League contest.

For the 1,150 Springfield fans in attendance, on a night that started to look a little much too familiar to the past five Junior Blues contests, it ended up being a pretty electric night.

Throughout much of the first fifty-minutes of regulation, the Wings held a 2-0 lead following two first-period goals from Anthony Appleyard and Jacob McDowell, and had looked to have a pretty solid win on the way--but not against these Junior Blues, and not on this very night.

Entering the third period, Kalamazoo held a 2-0 advantage over the hometown team--but a team-leading seventeenth goal from Cook at 10:28 continued with a Jordan Johnson goal at 13:54--which proceeded to a 2-2 game at the end of regulation--and overtime.

With Springfield owning the momentum heading into overtime, it certainly showed--but didn't lead to any results. The Blues recorded eighteen shots on goal while the road team only had one--but still the teams went into a shootout.

The six-round shootout featured twelve shooters total, recorded five finding the back of the net, and ended in a game-winning goal from the Junior Blues' Mitch Roggie. Roggie lit the lamp up in the sixth round and sent the Nelson Center crowd home excited and very pleased following the effort.

Antoni saved 21-of-23 Kalamazoo shots on goal, as well as four out of six shootout shots, earning him his first career NAHL victory in his debut. As for the visiting team, Alex Okicki earned the overtime loss for the Wings as he saved 39-of-41 Springfield shots--but allowed three of six shootout shots to find the back of the net.

Following the win, Springfield moved up to tie Coulee Region for third place in the MidWest division with 27 points. The same two teams will be back at it on Saturday night at the same place, with the puck dropping at 7pm.

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

Goals Scored:
Kalamazoo-(1st) Anthony Appleyard (unassisted) 5:19; Jacob McDowell (shorthanded) (Kyle Gattelaro) 18:01
Springfield-(3rd) Kyle Cook (Ben Kramer, Kevin Walters) 10:28; Jordan Johnson (Cody Dixon) 13:54

Shootout Round:
1st Round: SPR-Josef Pontasch (NO)---KAL-Andrew Graves (YES) 0-1 KAL
2nd Round: SPR-Kyle Cook (NO)---KAL-Robbie Payne (NO) 0-1 KAL
3rd Round: SPR-Kevin Walters (YES)---KAL-Jacob McDowell (NO) 1-1
4th Round: SPR-Ethan Nauman (NO)---KAL-Austin Hervey (NO) 1-1
5th Round: SPR-Mike Williams (YES)---KAL-Kyle Gattelaro (YES) 2-2
6th Round: SPR-Mitch Rogge (YES)---KAL-Taylor Burden (NO) 3-2 JR BLUES