BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Just four games were on the schedule this past for the trio of Metro Jets teams, with three being played Wednesday afternoon.
Of the four games, three resulted in two points for Jets teams.
In the first game Wednesday, the Jets Elite fell to the Fort Wayne Spacemen Elite 2-1 at Mount Clemens Ice Arena.
Graysen LaPrise scored the lone goal for the Jets and Arnaud Paradis made 22 saves between the pipes.
“The boys played a good game today and probably deserved better than to take a loss, but in this game, almost isn’t enough,” Jets associate coach Jake Howie said. “We’re at a point in the year where it’s either do or do not. And for as well as we played, Fort Wayne made one more play than we did today.”
Cameron Rees and Braedon Rasinskis scored for Fort Wayne, Dylan Davis assisted on both, and goaltender Austin Schaertel finished with 27 saves.
The second game of the day in Mount Clemens saw the MJDP edge Fort Wayne 4-3.
Jayden Provencher had a goal and an assist, while Spencer Stanhope, Liam Smith and Caleb Simpson scored to back goaltender Logan D’Andrea’s 36 saves.
“I thought this was one of our better 60-minute efforts on the year,” Howie said. “Got some big offensive contributions from our ‘D’ corps today and Logan was absolutely stellar in the net when we needed him to be. And honestly, it’s a big confidence boost win as we’ve struggled with Fort Wayne this year. It’s good to see the work pay off and show the guys coming down the stretch they are in every game.”
Antoine Bonin recorded a goal and an assist and Bogdan Vysotsky and Ivan Barnashov added goals for Fort Wayne as Sumner Wood made 20 saves in net for the Spacemen.
Wrapping up the afternoon, the Jets defeated the Fresh Coast Freeze 6-1 from Griff’s Ice House West in Holland.
Luka Pivec paced the attack with two goals and two assists, Ayden Hartzell added a goal and an assist and AJ Zaccagni posted two goals to go along with a single from Isaac Bunk.
“I thought we did a great job managing the situation,” Jets associate coach Danny Vanderwiel said. “Tough start, but once everyone got a shift or two in, we were fine. We played the right way and kept it simple for the most part.”
Daniell Luska and Aidan Charron registered two assists each and goaltender Philip Hall earned the win in goal making 22 saves
Emersen Lippert scored the first goal of the game for the Freeze and goalie Jakob Van Zweden collected 67 saves.
Finishing out the slate, the Jets downed the Battle Creek Kernels 7-1 Saturday night from The Rink Battle Creek.
Hartzell scored two goals with an assist, Jaxon Stone had a goal and three assists, and Charron and Ryan Glomboske each recorded a goal and an assist to back Evan Peacock’s 30 saves in goal.
Evan Cote and Owen Coulter added goals for the Jets.
For the Kernels, Zach Wolf scored and Galvin Reagan and Kaiden Hood combined on 59 saves in the Battle Creek net.
“We made some nice heads-up plays for goals which was good to see,” Jets associate head coach Jamie Lovell said. “I thought our ‘D’ defended well with good sticks and not giving their forwards much off the rush and in our ‘D’ zone. And our forwards created a lot of turnovers on the forecheck with their hard pursuit and good sticks also.
“That was ultimately the difference.”
ON TAP
Metro Jets
Jan. 31 – at Bearcat Hockey Club, 6:45 p.m., Cornerstone CFCU Arena
Feb. 1 – at Bearcat Hockey Club, 1:10 p.m., Cornerstone CFCU Arena
MJDP
Jan. 30 – at Chicago Cougars, 7 p.m. CDT, Summit Ice Center
Jan. 31 – at Chicago Cougars, 7:30 p.m. CDT, Summit Ice Center
Feb. 1 – at Chicago Cougars, 3:30 p.m. CDT, Summit Ice Center
Metro Jets Elite
Jan. 30 – at Chicago Cougars, 4 p.m. CDT, Summit Ice Center
Jan. 31 – at Chicago Cougars, 4:30 p.m. CDT, Summit Ice Center
Feb. 1 – at Chicago Cougars, 12:30 p.m. CDT, Summit Ice Center
All USPHL games are available at BlackBearSports.tv.
Photos/Sara Vasseur
