Josh German and Alex Schaumburger each scored two goals to lead the Metro Jets to a dominant 9-1 win over the Pittsburgh Vengeance.
With the win, the Jets extend their lead in the USPHL Great Lakes Division to six points over the second-place Toledo Cherokee and seven points over third-place Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know if we expected a score like that, but we do expect our guys to play the way they did,” said Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell. “This was a statement game that these guys wanted to make. Pittsburgh had some new guys in the lineup and they’re a better team than they were at the beginning of the year, which is the last time we played them, but so are we.
“We’re a much better team, getting better every day, and we want to make sure we solidify ourselves at the top of this division.”
Schaumburger added an assist for a three-point game, while Conner Graham, Nathan Vasquez, Stefan Frantti and Ryan Messing all posted a goal and an assist.
Will Jentz chipped in three assists, Jets captain Matt Cruz, Joey Johnson, Jason Crossland and Braydin Lewis all had two helpers, and Anders Grongstad scored to back Will Augustine’s 17 saves in goal.
“It felt great, but we started slow,” German said. “It was 1-1 after the first, and then we just started to escalate the game. We took it to them, and that was that.”
The two teams rematch Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Earlier Saturday, the MJDP defeated the Midwest Blackbirds 16-0 as Caden Fisher and Michael Kambouris combined on a 20-save shutout and Joey Mocnik (pictured front) exploded for five goals and two assists.
Kam Hellman went for a goal and four assists, Herman Ahokas, Nick Twombley and Hugo Fonovic a goal and three assists apiece, and Auston Ieuter contributed four assists in the win.
“Our guys were snapping the puck around, and I know Midwest was hurting with injuries and some of their top guys out of the lineup,” Lovell said. “Our development team is a very good team, and they play the right way, and hopefully, we’ll have that same type of effort tomorrow.”
Garrick Smith recorded a goal and two assists and Tim Washburn, Mitch Forton and Max Hartwell all had a goal and an assist. Tommy Purton, captain Brayden Tayles and Seth Beagle all scored one each to go along with two-assist games from Nick McDougall, Seth Francois and Jake Aslanian.
The MJDP remains in first place in the USPHL Midwest East Division, five points ahead of the second-place Chicago Cougars.
Sunday’s rematch is set for 3:30 p.m.
Also Saturday, Toledo shut out the MHC 7-0, Ethan Ryan (pictured below) making 52 saves in the loss.
“I was really pleased with the effort from our guys here,” said Lovell. “It’s been a tough year, a tough last couple weeks, but the guys kept at it, the morale was good, and they responded with energy, all those types of things. Toledo’s a good team and they dressed their top lineup, had a lot of speed, but we just have to find a way to eliminate some of the mistakes we made.”
The MHC hosts the Columbus Mavericks Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
All USPHL games are streamed on HockeyTV.com.
