Magicians Sweep Jr. Blues in First Home Series of New Year

Jan 9, 2017

The Minnesota Magicians (20-11-4) rode a hot December into the new year and swept the Springfield Jr. Blues in a 2-game set at Richfield Ice Arena on January 7th and 8th. The 2nd place Magicians are now 10 points ahead of the 3rd place Jr. Blues in the Midwest Division standings.

On Saturday night, the Magicians returned home for the first time since December 16th to face a Springfield squad that had of late gained ground on the Magicians in the standings. East Grand Forks, Minnesota native Tanner Tweten got the scoring started for the Magicians early in the first period with a goal assisted by team captain Will Hammer. Two more first period goals from Andrew Kangas (Assists: Davis Kirkendall, Tommy Altounian) and Caleb Hite (Travis Brown, John Siebenaler) put the Magicians firmly in control for the remainder of the game.

In the 2nd period the Magicians increased their 3-1 lead to 5-1 with the help from Caleb Hite’s second goal (Siebenaler, Nikita Kozyrev) of the night, along with a goal from John Siebenaler (Hite, Brown). A single Springfield goal in the third period would not be enough and the game ended with a strong 5-2 victory for the Magicians. Goaltender Ivan Prosvetov, who is on the NHL Central Scouting watch list for the upcoming 2017 draft, made 40 saves in the win.

In a rare Sunday night contest, the Magicians and Jr. Blues faced off again on the Richfield Arena ice. Scoring was harder to come by in this one, but the Magicians got help from a Jake Cass powerplay goal (Travis Brown, Mitch Slattery) early in the 2nd period to get the scoring started in the game. The next goal came in the third period off the stick of German forward Timo Walther (Matt Denman, Hunter Lellig) to increase the Magicians lead to 2-0. A late empty net goal from Will Hammer sealed the deal for the Magicians as they earned a 3-0 shutout to complete their sweep of Springfield. Goaltender Jake Acton made his first start for the Magicians after being acquired from Omaha of the United States Hockey League (USHL), making 24 saves and earning a victory.

The Magicians return home on Friday January 13th in a rivalry matchup with the Austin Bruins. Tickets are currently available online at www.wisconsinjuniorhockey.com and walkup tickets will be available at Richfield Ice Arena on the day of the game.