A day for the lower seeds in 3HL Divisional Finals
It was a night to shine for most of the lower seeded teams in the3HL Playoffs and three of the four lower seeds won their games in the Divisional Final rounds to make things real interesting the remainder of the weekend, as the four spots for the 3HL Championship in Chicago are still up for grabs. Here is a look at Friday night’s results:
West Division
North Iowa 2 @ Granite City 1 (OT) (Series tied 1-1) – Matt Bartels was spectacular, making 40 saves and Nick Marsh scored the game-winner just over 10 minutes into overtime as the North Iowa Bulls beat the Granite City Lumberjacks 2-1 forcing a deciding Game 3 on Sunday in Granite City for a spot in the 3HL Championship. Aaron Azevedo scored first for Granite City in the 1st period, but that is all the Lumberjacks would get by Bartels. Matt Kroska scored to tie the game at 1-1 in the 2nd period. Granite City’s Matt Grove made 26 saves in the loss. Boxscore
North Division
Queen City 4 @ Toledo 2 (Queen City leads series, 1-0) – Queen City Steam goaltender Jake Rebedew was solid, making 39 saves as the Steam took Game 1 in Toledo of the best of three series, 4-2. The Cherokee jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals from James Steele and Patrick Smiatacz, but the Steam responded right back with two goals later in the 1st period from Trevor Voelker and Henry Smith. Voelker added his second and Ryan Faucheux also scored in the 2nd period, increasing the lead to two, which Rebedew made hold for the remainder of the game. Boxscore
Central Division
Peoria 3 @ St. Louis 2 (OT) (Peoria leads series, 1-0) – St. Louis fired off 52 shots on goal, but Peoria goaltender Michael Parda made 50 saves and Cameron Brown scored the overtime winner just over seven minutes into the extra frame as the #3 seed Mustangs upset the Jr. Blues to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three series. Daniel Rosse scored first for the home side, but that was answered by back-to-back goals for Peoria’s Alexander Turin in the 2nd period. Patrick Gregory scored in the 3rd period, sending the game to overtime, where Brown ended the game. Mitch Fernsler made 30 saves in the loss. Boxscore
East Division
Cleveland 3 @ Flint 4 (Flint leads series, 1-0) – The one game on Friday night that did follow suit with the seeding was Flint’s come-from-behind 4-3 win over Cleveland to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three series. Josh Kestner and Derek Compeau scored 3rd period goals as the Jr. Generals erased a 3-2 Cleveland lead in the final frame. Edward Osowski scored for Flint and David Fassbender scored for Cleveland in the 1st period. Fred West and Louis Sawchik scored in the 2nd period for Cleveland to answer Osowski’s second of the game for Flint. Alex Larson took the loss, making 30 saves, while Ben Myers made 20 saves in the win. Boxscore
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