Sunday Wrap-up: Jr. Blues complete three-game sweep

Springfield 7 @ Chicago 3 – The Jr. Blues completed a three-game road sweep of the Hitmen on Sunday with a convincing 7-3 win.  The Jr. Blues opened up a five-goal lead after the 1st period and did not look back.  The loss for the Hitmen put them on the brink of playoff elimination.  Ethan Nauman paced the Jr. Blues with two goals and an assist.  Springfield controlled play from the start and outshot the Hitmen for the game, 44-27.  Mitch Rogge, Stewart Bell, Chris Sitler, Josef Pontasch and Nauman all scored in a 16-minute span in the 1st period and essentially put the game out of reach after the first 20 minutes.  Chicago tried to comeback in the 2nd period on the strength of two power play goals from Eric Szafranski and Zach Mudge, but Nauman’s second of the game late in the 2nd period, eliminated any hopes of a Chicago comeback.  Mike Fazio scored in the 3rd period for Chicago and Radim Matus scored for Springfield to complete the scoring.  13 players recorded at least a point in the win for Springfield.  Tyler Parks made 24 saves to pick up the win for the Jr. Blues. Nick Kohn took the loss and made 12 saves before being replaced by Ryan Coyne who made 25 saves. Boxscore

Janesville 0 @ St. Louis 1 – It took almost 56 minutes, but the Bandits Cody Ganchar scored late in the 3rd period as St. Louis completed a three-game home sweep of the Jets with a 1-0 shutout win on Sunday.  The win moved St. Louis three points ahead of Janesville for the top spot in the Midwest Division. Spencer Viele stopped all 27 shots for his 4th shutout of the season.  Brock Kautz made 27 saves in the loss for the Jets. Boxscore

Traverse City 3 @ Kalamazoo 4 (OT) – Andrew Graves scored twice and Chris Leone added the overtime winner as Kalamazoo edged Traverse City on Sunday, 4-3.  The K-Wings jumped out to a 2-0 lead with Grave’s first goal of the game and another goal from Taylor Burden.  Chris Leibinger scored late in the 2nd period to make it 2-1.  After Graves second of the game, the North Stars would force overtime with two goals in the final two minutes of regulation from Michal Toman and Eric Rivard. Boxscore

Fresno 3 @ Wenatchee 2 (SO) – Tomas Sholl made 39 saves, then stopped all four Wenatchee shooters in the shootout as Fresno salvaged a weekend split of their series in Wenatchee with a 3-2 shootout win on Sunday.  It looked as if Wenatchee was on their way to another win as they struck for the first two goals of the game from Trace Redmond and Shawn Pauly.  Fresno came back with goals from Riley Borer and a shorthanded goal from Jeff Pauluk.  Kyle Sucher and Ryan Doner scored in the shootout to secure the win for the Monsters. Boxscore