CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The Metro Jets and MJDP teams began the USPHL Nationals Thursday with a pair of defeats at the Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex.
The Jets opened with a 4-2 loss to the Elmira Jr. Enforcers and the MJDP fell 6-1 to the Florida Eels.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t execute and bear down on our chances,” Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville said of the Jets’ loss to Elmira. “Plain and simple, you need to win and do whatever it takes. Our guys learned a very quick and hard lesson about that, and I know they will respond with the best performance and effort of the year tomorrow.
“They have no choice.”
Braydin Lewis and Nathan Vazquez (pictured front) scored to stake the Jets to a 2-0 lead in the first period before Elmira scored four unanswered goals.
Will Augustine finished with 22 saves in taking the loss in goal for the Jets.
Against Florida, Joey Mocnik (pictured below) scored a power-play goal midway through the third period for the lone MJDP goal and Caden Fisher made 26 stops between the pipes.
“We came out well, and I liked our energy, but then we took a couple penalties that took away any momentum we were generating and ultimately cost us two goals,” Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell said. “From that point on, we were chasing the game and couldn’t recover.
“No room for error now. We have to win and need some help from others if this group still wants to advance.”
Both teams continue pool play Friday with the Jets playing the Northern Cyclones at 6:40 p.m. and the MJDP playing the Minnesota Blue Ox at 9:20 p.m.
All games at the tournament are being streamed on HockeyTV.com.
