Sunday wrap-up: St. Louis makes statement with sweep

Janesville 1 @ St. Louis 6 – The St. Louis Bandits made a huge statement this weekend that they are once again going to content for a regular season division title as they beat the Janesville Jets on Sunday 6-1 to complete a three-game sweep.  The win pulled the Bandits within one point of 1st place in the Midwest Division and the Bandits have two games in hand on the Jets.  Janesville got on the board first just a minute into the game as recently acquired Jayce Paulseth scored an unassisted goal, his first in a Jets uniform.  However, St. Louis would answer back in full force, Brett Bauza scored his first goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 less than two minutes later.  Frank Dichiara scored the eventual game-winning goal midway through the 1st period to make it 2-1 and Greg Johnson added another goal just four minutes later to give the Bandits a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission.  Ryan Zehnder and Rance Hughes scored in the 2nd period to increase the lead to 5-1 and chase starting Jets goaltender Brock Kautz from the net in favor of Tony Kujava.  However, the move failed to generate any momentum for Janesville as Joe Birmingham put a stamp on the weekend with a power play goal in the 3rd period for his third point of the game to make it 6-1.  The Bandits outshot the Jets 32-28 and Bandits goaltender Spencer Viele picked up his 20th win of the season making 27 saves.  Bandits forward Joe Kalisz also had a great game with three assists and TJ Sherman chipped in with two assists. Boxscore

Odessa 1 @ New Mexico 4 – Just like they did on Saturday night, the New Mexico Mustangs used good goaltending from Jake Stafford and timely scoring on the power play to defeat the Odessa Jackalopes 4-1 for the second straight game.  After a scoreless 1st period, the Mustangs got on the board with a power play goal from Charles Baldwin and an even-strength goal from Dallas Crum.  Odessa cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal from Tyler Poulsen, but goals from Adam Chapie and Evan Johnston secured the win for New Mexico.  Jake Stafford allowed just the one goal on 33 Odessa shots. Boxscore

Jamestown 0 @ Kalamazoo 3 – Alex Okicki stopped all 24 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Jr. K-Wings shutout the Ironmen at home, 3-0.  Kalamazoo jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st period with goals from Alex Brooks and a power play goal from Jacob McDowell.  Defenseman and team captain Chris Leone scored a power play goal in the 2nd period to give Kalamazoo their final lead and goal of the night.  Joe Gladnick suffered the loss for Jamestown, making 29 saves on 32 shots. Boxscore

Traverse City 4 @ Port Huron 1 – The North Stars scored three, 3rd period goals on their way to a big 4-1 road win on Port Huron on Sunday.  JD Cotroneo opened the scoring for Traverse City midway through the 1st period, but that was answered back late in the period by the Falcons Kody Polin to tie the game at 1-1.  After a scoreless 2nd period, which saw North Stars goaltender Kyle Laslo make 14 saves to keep the North Stars alive, Traverse City got 3rd period goals from Mitchell Snider, Sean Murphy and Will Badner to put the game away. Laslo shined and finished with 30 saves. Boxscore