3HL East Showcase begins with a bang
It was an exciting start to the 3HL East Showcase at the Troy Sports Center in Troy, Michigan on Sunday as the eight teams from the 3HL’s East and North Divisions took to the ice, jockeying for final position for the upcoming 3HL playoffs in March. Here is a look at the Day 1 results:
Cleveland 2 vs. Queen City 3 (SO) – In the most exciting game of the day, the Queen City Steam picked up their first win of the season over the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks. It was a very even game, with the Steam holding a 41-33 shots advantage, which included 22 shots in the 1st period. Trevor Voelker gave the Steam a 1-0 lead, but that was answered by Cleveland’s Louis Sawchik, who scored late in the 1st period to tie the game at 1-1. Cameron Dimmiitt scored early in the 3rd period to give the Jacks a 2-1 lead, but Queen City’s Jordan Frasse answered less than a minute later to send the game to overtime and then a shootout. Queen City’s Zach Barngrover scored as the 7th shooter to give the Steam the win. Steam goalie Joey Rebedew made 31 saves in the win. Boxscore
Toledo 0 vs. Pittsburgh 3 – Sean Keating stopped all 28 shots as the Jr. Penguins blanked the Toledo Cherokee 3-0 on Sunday. Pittsburgh benefitted from an early lead thanks to two power play goals from Ethan Martin and Alexander Lysyuk. Jesse Grossman added the third goal for insurance late in the 3rd period. Nico Vecchio picked up a pair of assists in the win and Lysyuk had a multi-point game. Toledo’s Lukas Gavalier made 34 saves in the loss. The loss marked the first time all season that the Cherokee had been shutout this season. Boxscore
Battle Creek 0 vs. Flint 5 – The Jr. Generals used a balanced scoring attack to fend off an improving Battle Creek team on Sunday. Despite being outshot 52-15, the Revolution managed to stay close the majority of the game thanks to the goaltending of Matt Hughes. However, Flint was simply too much. Warren Carter scored twice, including Flint’s first and last goals of the game. Jake Taylor also scored in the 1st period to give Flint a 2-0 lead after one period. Phillip Ballard scored the lone goal in the 2nd period to increase the lead to 3-0. Cody Damon and Carter both added power play goals in the 3rd period to put the game out of reach. With Flint’s win and Cleveland’s OT loss, the lead for the Jr. Generals in the East Division increased to four points. Boxscore
Michigan 3 vs. Metro 6 – Evidently, Metro Jets forward Mike MacKinnon enjoyed being home as the forward from Troy, Michigan factored in on all six of Metro’s goals in a 6-3 win over the Mountain Cats. After Michigan had taken a 2-1 lead after one period with goals from John Arms and Josh Foster, MacKinnon scored twice in the 2nd period and added two more assists in the 2nd period to give Metro a 5-2 lead. After assisting on Steve Klisz’s power play goal in the 1st period, MacKinnon would add another assist on Justin Shureb’s goal in the 3rd period to complete the six point night. Ethan Baker had the other goal for Michigan in the loss. Metro fired 54 shots on goal to Michigan’s 39. Boxscore
