Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Atkinson's hat trick leads Jr. Blues to 4-3 win over Johnstown

Ryan Atkinson finished the night off recording his first career hat-trick, Matt Leon was once again impressive inbetween the pipes, and the Springfield Jr. Blues defeated the Johnstown Tomahawks 4-to-3 in a North American Hockey League regular season contest on Saturday night.

Atkinson scored two of his three goals in the first period, with his first coming just twelve seconds into the contest. Both Parker Johnson and James McGing were credited with assists on the goal, which made it 1-to-0 Springfield. At the 3:40 mark, following Atkinson's first goal, Casey Nelson tied the game up at one apiece as he scored a powerplay goal with Mitch Kontny and Brandon Reinholz getting assists. Less than a minute and a half later, in a 1-1 tie, Atkinson scored again at the 5:00 minute mark on a nasty shot with the passes coming off the sticks of Simon Koscielski and McGing again.

With the Jr. Blues leading 2-to-1 heading into the second period, Mitch Rogge (Tom Cooney, Nick Anderson) scored for Springfield on the powerplay and made it 3-1 at the 12:39 mark. It was the only goal scored in the period, and was the Jr. Blues' only powerplay goal scored as they went 1-for-5 on the man-advantage. The Tomahawks finished the night 1-for-4.

Entering the final twenty minutes of hockey, with Johnstown trailing 3-to-1, the Tomahawks got to work. Jordan Watt (Mitch Kontny, Casey Nelson) made it 3-2 with nine and a half minutes left. A minute later, at the 11:29 mark of the final period, Jeff Bergh (Joe Bender, Mike Sandor) tied it up at three and lit up the arena.

In the five-minute overtime period, at the 3:16 mark, Atkinson lit up the scoring lamp for the third and final time of the night as he recorded his first career three goal game--wrapping up the Jr. Blues third straight win in a row. Springfield was out-shot on the night 31-to-26.

Jr. Blues starting goalie Matt Leon won his fourth straight start in a row, as he gave up three goals on 31 shots. During his current four game win streak, he has allowed nine goals on 138 shots and now has an overall record of 5-3-2 in ten starts this season.

As for the Tomahawks, starting goalie Chris Truehl was pretty good as well. He allowed four goals on 26 Springfield shots but recorded the loss. In eight appearances and six starts, the nineteen year old from Stougton, Wisconsin has an overall record of 2-2-4.

Official Scoring Summary
First Period (SPR) Ryan Atkinson (Parker Johnson, James McGing) 0:12; (JHN) Casey Nelson (PP) (Mitch Kontny, Brandon Reinholz) 3:40; (SPR) Ryan Atkinson (James McGing, Simon Koscielski) 5:00
Second Period (SPR) Mitch Rogge (PP) (Tom Cooney, Nick Anderson) 12:39
Third Period (JHN) Jordan Watt (Mitch Kontny, Casey Nelson) 10:25; (JHN) Jeff Bergh (Joe Bender, Mike Sandor) 11:29
Overtime: Ryan Atkinson (Mitch Rogge, Joe Carkeek) 3:16

Three Stars of the Game (Official from the Stadium)

1. Ryan Atkinson (Springfield)
2. Jeff Bergh (Johnstown)
3. Jesse Kessler (Johnstown)

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