FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The MJDP is off to the USPHL National Tournament, defeating the Fort Wayne Spacemen today 3-2 in the deciding Game 3 at the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse.
Nolan Bruxvoort’s goal at 9:58 proved to be the game-winning tally, and Freddy Soderberg finished with 43 saves to help the MJDP come back after losing 8-0 Saturday night.
“Very proud of this group,” said Metro Jets associate head coach Jamie Lovell. “The road to success is paved with a lot bumps and potholes, and anyone from Detroit knows what I’m talking about, so it’s only fitting for this Detroit-based program to surrender an embarrassing loss the way we did last night but learn from it and come back here today with a full team effort to take the series. We had some luck today, for sure, but you need some to win in the playoffs, but we also earned our luck and ultimately this win.
“There’s still plenty of work to be done as we prepare this group for the national tournament but right now, we will let them enjoy this moment for a day or two.”
Austin Combs scored in the first period and Royal St-Cyr added a goal in the second period for the MJDP.
“This means a lot,” said Soderberg. “The whole team worked really hard for this all year and it’s just great to see us get the win today and move on. Last night was definitely difficult for us, but we just got a pretty angry and realized our backs were against the wall and we had nothing to lose.
“We’re definitely going to enjoy this, but we know we have to get back to work and get ready for the best teams in the league at nationals.”
The Spacemen outshot the MJDP 45-40, with Mikhail Melnikov making 37 saves for Fort Wayne.
With the win, the MJDP now joins the Jets at USPHL Nationals, which start Thursday, March 24 in Hudson, N.H.
“Since we started the season, it’s always been our goal to get to nationals, and being able to win today was a very special moment for the team,” Combs said. “We knew we didn’t play our game last night and that wasn’t our team. Today, we came together as a team, we were hard on pucks, had the energy. It was all just there today and we know what we are capable of.
“Today was our day.”
The full schedule for nationals will be finalized once all playoff series are complete.
All USPHL games are available on HockeyTV.com.
