The Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 2-0 on Saturday in North American Hockey League play at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex.
Springfield won after losing the first two games of the series and the first four games of the season against the Bears.
The Bears, at 8-8-1-0 and 17 points, are in fourth place in the Midwest Division. Minnesota leads with 24 points, while the Anchorage Wolverines and Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets are tied for second with 18.
There are three teams right behind the Bears with 16 points — the Chippewa (Wisconsin) Steel, Wisconsin Windigo and Fairbanks Ice Dogs.
The Jr. Blues are in last place with 12 points at 5-10-2-0.
With the three-game series and goalie Peter Wickstrom Stumer hurt, the Bears called on Owen Zenone, who recently joined the team from the New Mexico Ice Wolves of the NA3HL.
Zenone stopped 29 of 30, while JJ Cataldo had the 31-save shutout for the Jr. Blues.
“You can’t win a hockey game without scoring a goal,” Kenai River head coach Taylor Shaw said. “We didn’t help ourselves.
“I wasn’t happy with how much Owen had to work back there. He played great, but we shouldn’t have had to ask that of him.”
The game was scoreless when Kenai River’s Brock MacDonald was given a five-minute major for cross-checking with 8:43 left in the game.
“It was a bad time to take a penalty like that, that’s for sure,” Shaw said.
With 7:41 to play, Jake Peterson scored on the power play for the Jr. Blues. With 2 seconds left, Jagur McClelland finished the scoring with an empty-netter.
Shaw said the Bears gave up five power-play goals in three games.
“That’s just not going to work,” he said.
The coach said the team is struggling getting the puck out of the zone.
The Fairbanks Ice Dogs, winners of two straight, come to the sports complex for games Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Shaw said a glance at the standings shows the Bears must be ready every night.
“There’s no easy games in this division, that’s for sure,” he said.
