SPRINGFIELD,
IL—NOVEMBER 14
The
Quad City Ice Eagle Bantam travel team suffered its first defeat of the season
as they lost a Sunday morning contest to the Springfield Kings by a score of
3-1. The loss was the first in CIHL
play, evening the Eagles’ record at 1-1.
It was not a total lost weekend for QC, which played the Springfield A2
team and came away with a 6-3 win in the game that was played Saturday night.
Game summaries follow.
In
the first game of the weekend, the Eagles took on the Springfield A2 team. The Eagles came out flying, scoring their
first goal on the initial shift of the game, with Austin Busch all alone just
outside the crease to jam in his first of the night, with assists going to Will
Hegwein and Josh Moon. Just over four
minutes later, that line was again buzzing the Springfield net, and Josh Moon
converted a pass from Hegwein to increase the lead to 2-0. The Eagles then went into their customary
second period doldrums as Springfield’s Johnson scored twice within three
minutes to tie the game at two. After
the teams finished the second period still tied, Moon gave the Eagles a 3-2
lead on an unassisted goal just 15 seconds into the third period. Less than a minute later, Moon got his hat
trick on another nice pass from Hegwein.
Springfield closed to within 4-3 with just under five minutes to play,
but the Moon line put the game out of reach with two more goals within 15
seconds. Busch scored his second of the
night with 3:34 left, with assists going to Hegwein and Moon, and Moon finished
the scoring with his fourth of the game with 3:19 remaining, with Hegwein
picking up his fifth assist of the game.
Brandon Morgan played another solid game in goal to pick up his fourth
straight win.
On
Sunday morning, the Eagles faced off with the AA Kings, a team which had beaten
the Eagles in four straight games last year.
Springfield opened the scoring at the 8:35 mark, when May beat Goalie
Brandon Kruse on a rebound of a shot by Baron.
Less than a minute later, the Kings upped the lead to 2-0, converting a
two-on-one opportunity. He Eagles had
their chances during the second period, aided by four straight power play
chances, as the Kings continued to play the kind of stupid, chippy hockey that
they are known for throughout the league.
But the Eagles were off in their passing game, and the Springfield
goalie was able to maintain his shutout until Moon finally scored a power play
goal at the 6:26 mark to close the margin to one goal. The third period saw Springfield re-take the
initiative, outshooting the Eagles 8-2, and forcing Kruse to make some big
stops to keep the margin at one. When
Springfield’s Reeves was sent off the ice for high sticking with 1:26 to play,
the Eagles had one last chance to go for the tie, but Springfield’s Baron
nailed an empty net goal from over 100 feet to ice the victory for the Kings.
The
weekend split left the Eagles with an overall record of 7-1, 1-1 in the CIHL
standings, with their next two games coming at home Saturday against the
talented Pekin Flyers.