Granite City, Metro punch tickets to Silver Cup Championship
The Metro Jets celebrate one of their six goals as the are in the Silver Cup Championship Game for the second season in a row.
The NA3HL Silver Cup Championship Game is set for Sunday as the #1 Metro Jets will take on the #8 Granite City Lumberjacks. Face-off is 1pm central and can be seen live on HockeyTV
Semi-Final #1: Metro Jets 6 vs. Yellowstone Quake 1 – The Metro Jets seized control in the second half of the game and scored five unanswered goals to win going away, 6-1 over the Yellowstone Quake. The win advanced the top-seeded Jets to Sunday’s Silver Cup Championship Game. The Jets last won the Silver Cup Championship back in 2002 when it was the CSHL Hurster Cup. Current Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was the Jets head coach that season. The Jets got the scoring going late in the 1st period with a goal from Graham Day. Yellowstone tied the game at 1-1 early in the 2nd period with a goal from Max Doner. But, the Jets put their foot on the gas later in the period and never let up as goals from Hayden Winch and Chas Distelrath made the score 3-1 after two periods. The Jets would tack on three more goals in the 3rd period as Conno Inger, Louis Boudon and Stefan Boskovic all scored to make the final, 6-1. Jets goalie Andrew Kormos was solid again, making 25 saves in the win, while Quake goalie Nick Ottenbacher faced 50 shots in the loss and made 44 saves. Boxscore
Semi-Final #2: Granite City Lumberjacks 3 vs. Binghamton Junior Senators 2 – Lumberjacks goalie Mac Berglove made 32 saves to lead Granite City to a 3-2 win and spot in the Silver Cup Championship Game. The Lumberjacks last won the title in 2015 and will have the chance to do so again after the close win. Things were tight from the start. After a very even first period, the Lumberjacks caught a break late in the period when Junior Sens goalie Sal Lauretta had trouble handling the puck behind the net and Andrej Jamnicky scored shorthanded for Granite City with just :10 seconds remaining in the period for a 1-0 lead. Granite City then took a 2-0 lead just one minute into the second period as Matthew Moran scored another shorthanded goal on a nice follow-up wrap-around. Binghamton cut the lead to one as Conor Landrigran scored a nice goal. The Lumberjacks regained the two-goal edge as a shot from the point from Cole Buhl found its way through a screened Lauretta. Binghamton cut into the lead once again with a nice passing play on the power play that found Tyler Uravage on the back door. However, the Junior Sens could not find the equalizer late in the game with Lauretta pulled and Granite City advanced. Like Berglove, Lauretta also faced 34 shots in the game and made 31 saves. Boxscore
