DIMONDALE, Mich. – Nick Ceccarini scored twice and Fredrik Meurling made 27 saves as the Metro Jets defeated the Lansing Wolves 5-1 Friday night at The Summit Sports and Ice Complex to open their USPHL Great Lakes Division playoff series.
The Jets now lead the best-of-three series 1-0 with Game 2 set for Saturday night back at Fraser Hockeyland at 7:30 p.m.
“My line (with Joey Bruce and Conner Graham) was doing well tonight,” said Ceccarini (pictured). “Everything was tape to tape, and we were just buzzing. We supported each other and worked to get open to bury two goals in the first period.”
Justin Renzi and Anthony Cinato added a goal and an assist, and Joey Demarte also scored in the win.
“Both teams weren’t sharp early in the game, but luckily we caught a couple breaks in the first and capitalized on them,” Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville said. “Overall, we didn’t play the cleanest possession game, but this time of the year is about the scoreboard and we did what we needed to do to be in position to close it out tomorrow. We got some timely goals from Ceccarini and Demarte, but Freddy was the difference for us tonight.
“We will build off this big first playoff win and be ready for another battle tomorrow.”
Brendan Smith scored for Lansing, while Sean Finstrom stopped 31 shots in suffering the defeat in goal.
The Jets now have a chance to close out the series and advance to USPHL Nationals from March 9-12 in Boston.
“We need to go into tomorrow’s game strong from the start and play our game,” Ceccarini said. “We need to eliminate their chances and sacrifice bodies blocking shots and taking hits to make plays. We just have to stick to our game and work hard.”
The Jets MJDP Team opens its playoff series Saturday night playing the Pittsburgh Vengeance from the Alpha Ice Complex. Game time is 7 p.m.
Both games tomorrow night will be streamed on www.HockeyTV.com.
