FRASER, Mich. – The Metro Jets skated to a pair of wins over the Lake Erie Bighorns over the weekend at Fraser Hockeyland.
Saturday night, Jets captain Brodie Thornton scored twice in a 3-2 win, while Anthony Cinato pumped in a pair of goals in a 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon.
“We had a team meeting (Sunday) morning and it was all about buying in,” said Cinato. “It’s the middle of the season and we have had a couple lackluster kids, but I think for the most part, it’s going pretty well here.”
Justin Renzi also scored Saturday as Machus Turner made 12 saves for the win in goal.
“It was a little bit of a slow game, but I thought we were all over them in all three periods,” Turner said. “We had a couple of breakdowns, but the boys did a great job in the ‘D’ zone and made my job easier.”
Sunday, Renzi and Thornton added goals and Will Augustine finished with 26 saves between the pipes.
Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville said the four points are big in the USPHL Great Lakes Division standings as Metro continues to sit in first place.
“Sunday was absolutely different than Saturday,” Quenneville said. “(Lake Erie) has great goaltending there, obviously, and we noticed that when we outshot them significantly (in both games) and outchanced them. There is no quit in that team and they came back Saturday with a couple lucky breaks, but we just can’t let that happen.”
Also over the weekend, the MJDP team suffered a pair of defeats at home to the USPHL Midwest East Division first-place Chicago Cougars, dropping a pair of 4-2 games as Chicago tallied an empty-net goal in each contest.
Saturday, Mitch Forton and Brennan Zatelli scored, and Kris Eberly made 31 stops in net.
Sunday, Mitchell Hoon and Logan Davis provided the offense and Eberly was again strong in turning aside 32 shots.
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t come away with at least a split with the way we played,” Quenneville said. “We felt like we definitely gave (Chicago) a test both games, gave them a run for their money. They’re a significantly older team, more mature team, but our guys pushed back.”
This weekend, both teams head on the road to close out 2019 at the USPHL Chicago Showcase.
The Jets play the Minnesota Moose Friday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Hudson Havoc Saturday at 12:50 p.m., Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings Saturday at 7:50 p.m. and the Minnesota Blue Ox Sunday at 1:20 p.m., while the MJDP plays the Pittsburgh Vengeance Friday at 3:30 p.m., Blue Ox Saturday at 11:10 a.m., Dells Ducks at 10 p.m. and the Havoc Sunday at 9:40 a.m.
“It’s a lot of games in a short amount of time and, obviously, no one gives us an easy schedule anywhere we go, which is what we want, so we’ll make sure to go over some stuff this week based on the teams we’re playing,” Quenneville said. “We’ll focus on what we can do to play the right way. We know what’s in store and teams are always going to play their best lineups against us. I know the guys are excited, but we have a few work days this week to get ready for the weekend ahead.”
All showcase games will be streamed on www.HockeyTV.com with live updates available on the USPHL app.
