The Junior Blues come into this home-opener with a bunch of new faces, including a brand new owner and head coach as they got rid of last season's head coach Joe Dibble and the rest of his staff. Taking over on the bench starting this season is Tony Zasowski (head coach) and Mike Janda (assistant coach), and while they may not have much experience of coaching at the NAHL-level, both are proven winners that are looking to build more culture to the presence of this team, as well as try to become the third Junior Blues team ever to hoist the Robertson Cup at the end of the season.
With an expected sell-out crowd inside the new-look Nelson Center on Friday night, the team and the fans will get there first look at North divisions' Brown Bears; as well as there first looks at the newly-cleaned up ice rink that costed the team well over $50,000 to fix and to adjust. The Junior Blues enter the game with an overall record of 1-2-1 (3 points), while Kenai River will begin the night at 0-2-2 (2 points) overall.
Both teams started there seasons' off in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) Showcase; and neither fared as well as they had probably anticipated--but now the real games begin and both teams have similar hopes to one another, which is why this weekend's two games could both be some pretty exciting games of old-fashioned throwdown hockey.
Brett Skibba leads the hometown boys' through the first four games so far, as he has tallied a total of five points through scoring three goals and adding two assists. Newcomers James McGing (4 points) and Tom Cooney (3 points) have also looked pretty impressive as the two forwards had combined to total for seven points in the showcase over the last week.
Springfield has scored twelve goals so far, while giving up thirteen. On the other side for the Brown Bears' though, they are scored twelve as well; but have also allowed nineteen total. One of the biggest keys in these two games will most certainly be for goaltending. Matt Leon, who looks to have the edge as Springfield's number one netminder, has a 1-1-1 overall record between the pipes; and in 185 minutes of hockey, has allowed just six goals while saving 89 and having an impressive goals' against average of 1.95 with a save percentage of .937.
As for Kenai River, Sean Healy has gotten three out of the four starts in net; and right now he has a record of 0-2-1 and will be looking for his first win on the young season. In 158 minutes between the pipes, Healy has allowed twelve goals and has a goals' against average of 4.54 and a save percentage of .793.
Special teams may also have a lot to say about the two teams as well. Springfield is ranked fourth in the league on the powerplay at 26.3 percent; while Kenai River is ranked eighteenth on there penalty kill as they stand at 77.3 percent. Switching it up to the other side of the special teams; the Brown Bears' powerplay unit is seventeenth in the league at 13.6 percent; while the penalty kill for the Junior Blues is ranked seventh in the league as they have only been scored upon shorthanded just twelve percent of the time.
Albin Karlsson leads the Brown Bears in points entering the game; as he has scored three goals and dished out one assist. Also up in the stat sheets with four points with Karlsson is Zac Lazzaro, who has scored two goals and dished out two asists as well.
For those fans that paid attention and kept up with this team last season; the whole outlook and most faces have changed. The new motto this season of "The New Blues Standard" fits very well into what coach Zawoski is trying to teach these kids; and even with a unit as young as Springfield is, the talent and the potential is most certainly there to turn a lot of heads from around the hockey world in which is the North American Hockey League. As the ole' expression has always went; "only time will tell", but as for now, get out there and help get the Nelson Center rockin' like it hasn't rocked before!
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