MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – Tim Washburn’s goal at 4:25 of overtime completed the Metro Jets’ comeback Saturday night in a thrilling 3-2 win over the Columbus Mavericks at the OhioHealth Chiller North.
Jets captain Cody Mastay had tied the game at 19:12 of the third period after Columbus took the lead seven minutes earlier.
“We certainly were not at our best as a team this weekend, but we found a way,” said Jets associate head coach Jamie Lovell. I’m glad we got two wins and can now turn our “focus to preparing for the playoffs.”
Dakota Kott opened the scoring for the Jets in the first period before the Mavericks responded.
Jets goalie Louis-Pierre Fortier finished with 38 saves as the Jets outshot Columbus 45-40.
Kott and Mastay also added assists for multi-point games.
In the opener of the home-and-home series Friday night at Mount Clemens Ice Arena, Will Augustine made 17 saves to tie the USPHL all-time shutouts record with 11 in the Jets’ 7-0 shutout against Columbus.
Cristian Adragna had a goal and two assists, while Anders Grongstad netted a pair of goals and Mastay and Andreas Fleutot went for a goal and an assist apiece.
Jets forward Nick Ceccarini played in his USPHL regular-season record 172nd game and picked up an assist on Grongstad’s first goal.
Kam Hellman and Dakota Kott added goals and Washburn chipped in two assists.
The Jets have a first-round bye for the upcoming USPHL playoffs and will host the winner of the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones/Pittsburgh Vengeance the weekend of March 11-13 at Mount Clemens Ice Arena.
The MJDP grabbed four points of their own with a home-and-home sweep of the Motor City Hockey Club.
Starting off Friday night at Redford Ice Arena, Carson Finney popped two goals and added an assist and Owen Ott scored twice in an 11-1 win.
Vincent Westman and Sam Westerberg each tallied a goal and two assists and Freddy Soderberg made 11 saves to get the win between the pipes.
Jackson Moleski, Alex Blankenship, Tommy Purton, Joey Demitchell and Robert Grasso also scored one goal each.
“The team played well,” said Jets associate coach Dan Pszenyczny. “Both games started a little slow but we made some adjustments and started to dictate the pace of the games.
Freddy and Ethan (Ryan) both played good in net. All four lines were rolling and contributing, and all the ‘D’ this weekend played well. It was a good weekend to get us going next week for playoffs.”
Wrapping up Saturday night at Mount Clemens Ice Arena, Steven Miller had two goals and three assists and Ryan made 13 saves in a 6-1 victory.
Nolan Bruxvoort had two goals and an assist and Austin Combs tacked on three assists.
Josh Boze added a goal and an assist, Finney had two helpers, and Joey Carpenter scored.
The MJDP will host the Decatur Blaze next weekend at Mount Clemens Ice Arena to open the playoffs. The schedule will be announced shortly.
“We would just like to congratulate everyone in the Metro Jets program on another incredible and successful season,” Lovell said. “Obviously, the time and effort that’s put in by the coaching staff and players gets a lot of credit, but none of this is possible without the help of all the game-day volunteers and staff, billet families, all the staff from Mount Clemens Ice Arena, and of course, our team owner Pete Cammick.
“We are all looking forward to continuing our success into the playoffs.”
All USPHL games are available on HockeyTV.com.
