Springfield
Junior Blues (4-8-2) vs. Janesville Jets (7-5-2)
Two Games –
Friday, October 26th and Saturday, October 27th
Both games inside the Nelson Center will drop the puck at 7:05pm
Season Series:
(4 Head-to-Head Games in 2012-2013)
Game 1-Friday, October
26th – 7:05 p.m. (Nelson Center)
Game 2-Saturday, October
27th – 7:05 p.m. (Nelson Center)
Game 3-Friday,
December 21st – 7:00 p.m. (Janesville Ice)
Game 4-Saturday,
December 22 – 7:00 p.m. (Janesville Ice)
Last Weekend
Results (both teams)
Jr. Blues split two-game road series 1-1 against
Roadrunners in Topeka.
Janesville is coming off a two-game sweep at
home against Coulee Region.
Big Story of the Weekend Series inside
the Nelson Center
As
everybody involved inside the world of sports knows, head-to-head
division-rival matchups could go either way. Both teams enter the two-game
series opener on Friday night on a roll as the hometown Junior Blues have won
three of their last four games, while the visiting Jets from Janesville, also
have won three of their previous four games. Springfield swept Port Huron in
their last two games at home before being shutout in the final game in Topeka
last weekend 1-to-0 after they won the opener with a shutout themselves, 2-to-0
on Friday night. The Jets won both games last weekend but loss the opener on
the road against Kalamazoo two weekends ago, 1-0.
Team Scope
Springfield Junior Blues-The hometown
good guys from Springfield enter this series over the weekend with quite a bit
of confidence as they have won three of the teams’ last four contests. Brett Skibba
is a large part of the reason, as he currently leads the Junior Blues in points
with fourteen and has scored five goals in the last four games—including a
three-goal hat trick in the 5-3 win over Port Huron on October 12th.
The
team is currently in seventh place out of eight teams in the North—but currently
own a record of 3-4-1 overall at home and have recorded wins against some teams
that not many people expected them to beat. Through fourteen games, Springfield
has an overall plus-minus of minus seven (-7) as they have scored just
thirty-two goals compared to thirty-nine goals allowed. Matt Leon, who is the
expected start for the opener on Friday, is 3-3-2 in eight starts this season
with one shutout. Ryan Kellenberger, who is currently listed as the back up, is
1-5-0 in six starts so far. The two have combined to allow thirty-seven goals
on 451 shot attempts.
Janesville Jets-Somewhat like
our hometown Junior Blues, this weekends’ opponent and Northern division-rival
Janesville Jets started off the regular season slow—but thanks to a nice
stretch of wins put together lately, also have themselves gaining some confidence
. Entering this weekend’s games, Janesville has won three straight games and
will be looking to extend it to four or ultimately five as they swept Coulee
Region last weekend at home—with the opener ending in overtime.
The
Jets are led from an offensive attack that features Jason Ford, Austin Vieth,
and Connor Lemirande. Ford leads the team with eight goals and fourteen points—and
most impressively, with the three forwards on the ice through fourteen games,
the team is +15, which is among league leaders for three players combined
throughout the entire NAHL forwards.
The
goalies for the Jets have both been quite impressive as well—just as much as
our two goaltenders. Brock Krautz, who is the teams number one option, is 5-3-1
in nine starts while back-up goalie Austin Priebe has started five games and
has an overall record of 2-1-1. All four goalies that will be participating in
the two game series clash this weekend own a save-percentage of .927, which in
itself is very impressive.
Who is Hot (Both teams in last 5 games)
For
the Junior Blues, success has been relying a lot upon how well both Nate
Chasteen and Brett Skibba have played. Chasteen has tallied six points in his
last five games while Skibba has added five himself. Skibba has scored five
goals with no assists while Chasteen on the other hand, has six assists and no
goals scored. Also hot for the good guys, between the pipes, is starting goalie
Matt Leon. Leon is 2-0-0 in the teams’ last five games with his most previous
start being a shut-out. He has allowed just three goals on sixty-six shot
attempts fired.
As
for Janesville, Connor Lemirande and Ruslan Pedan have both put up four points
each. The two of them have combined to for eight points with both of them
scoring two goals each—and two assists each. Starting goalie Austin Priebe has
an overall record of 2-1-0 and allowed seven goals with 104 total saves (.937
saves percentage).
Special Teams Comparison (through
fourteen games)
Springfield
– PP: 18.2 % (9th in NAHL) – PK: 82.5 % (14th in NAHL)
Janesville
– PP: 15.8 % (13th in NAHL) – PK: 84.1 % (11th in NAHL)
