Metro Jets Top Junior Blues for Fraser Cup Title

The Metro Jets turned their third straight trip to the North American 3 Hockey League championship game into a Fraser Cup title on Saturday when Jhuwon Davis scored in overtime for a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Junior Blues.               

Metro went 5-0 when the eight divisional playoff champions went to Romeoville, Illinois, for the Fraser Cup. The Jets were 3-0 in round-robin play, to reach the semifinals, then won two straight overtime games for their fourth title since 1998.               

Griffin Sawyer scored a first-period, power-play goal for the Jets.               

Will Baginski took advantage of a turnover to lift St. Louis into a 1-1 tie late in the second. Bud Winter then put the Junior Blues ahead in the third. Winter sent a shot off the post, creating a long rebound that tournament Most Valuable Player Connor Inger turned into a breakaway goal to force overtime.

Andrew Kormos had 35 saves for the win. Blake Bjella, who had three Fraser Cup shutouts, made 31 saves in the loss.               

FRASER RECAP: Inger, fellow forward Reggie Millette and defenseman Trevor Momot represented Metro on the Fraser Cup All-Tournament Team.               

Winter, defenseman Mark Capkovic and Bjella made the all-tournament team from the Junior Blues.            

Metro won a rematch of last year’s championship game when it beat the Granite City Lumberjacks, 3-2, in overtime in Friday’s semifinals.               

Jeremy Schwartz scored two goals, including the third-period goal that forced overtime. Brodie Thornton converted a rebound into the overtime game-winner.             

St. Louis reached the final when Bjella made 21 saves in a 5-0 semifinal shutout of the La Crosse Freeze.               

The Junior Blues went 2-0-1 and won a tiebreaker over Granite City to take Pool A over the Yellowstone Quake (2-1) and Binghamton Junior Senators (0-3).               

The Jets were 3-0 to win Pool B over La Crosse (2-1), the Texas Brahmas (1-1-1) and New England Stars (0-2-0-1).               

Inger had two goals, including a game-winner, and five assists in four games to lead Fraser Cup scorers.               

USHL AWARDS: Ben Finkelstein from the Waterloo Black Hawks was named United States Hockey League Defenseman of the Week for the third time in four weeks.              

Finkelstein had a power-play goal and two assists in Saturday’s 7-3 win over the Dubuque Fighting Saints.               

Matt Jurusik also won his third Goaltender of the Week award after stopping 46 of 49 shots in a pair of wins by the Sioux City Musketeers.               

COLLEGE COMMITMENTS: Josiah Slavin, a forward with the USHL’s Lincoln Stars, has committed to play at Colorado College, beginning in the 2019-20 season.               

The 19-year-old from Erie, Colorado, recently put together a 10-game point streak. He has 18 goals and 18 assists in 53 games in his second USHL season.

Waterloo center Garrett Klee has committed to Northern Michigan.               

Klee, 19, from Morrison, Colorado, is in his second season with Waterloo and third in the USHL. He has five goals and seven assists in 53 games.               

NAHL ROUNDUP: Jordan Fader’s overtime goal lifted the Shreveport Mudbugs to Friday’s 1-0 win over the Lone Star Brahmas to clinch the North American Hockey League South Division title.               

Defenseman Brendon Michaelian is the leading scorer on the Amarillo Bulls after his two-goal effort in Saturday’s 6-1 win over the Topeka RoadRunners. He had an assist the night before and has 34 points in 57 games.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.