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Spirit come up short in State Championship

By Miguel Franco 03/14/2017, 8:00am CDT

Springfield and Kirkwood #1 would face off for the fourth time this season but this time a State Championship was on the line. Kirkwood took the Spirit out of their game and frustrated Springfield every step of the way. Kirkwood would go 4 for 6 with the man advantage as the Spirit got into penalty trouble. Kirkwood would win the game and State Championship by a score of 7-1.

Kirkwood got on the board 4 minutes into the game, skating around the defense for an easy 1-0 lead. Less than 2 minutes later the Stars would take advantage of some sloppy Springfield defense for a 2-0 lead. In the second period the Spirit got into some penalty trouble and Kirkwood made them pay by scoring two power play goals to make it 4-0. In the 3rd, Will Peters off a tremendous effort cut to the middle and would score to make it 4-1 giving Springfield some life. That was short lived as the Spirit again took two penalties and Kirkwood capitalized on both of them. Kirkwood would score an additional goal towards the end of the game to make it 7-1. The score would hold up and the #2 Stars would beat the #1 Spirit to capture the State Championship.

In a game when Kirkwood outplayed and out hustled the Spirit, this would be one Springfield will want back. The Spirit did not bring their A game to the table and found out the hard way that the playoffs are a different season. Good lessons will be learned from this game and will hopefully carry over to future seasons.

Springfield would finish the year with a record of 30-6-3. They placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in three tournaments and placed second in the state. Not the outcome Springfield wanted at the end of the season but a great season nonetheless.

Notes:

Cooper Pumphrey- At 10 years old, Pumphrey posted 10 shutouts in 39 games.
Gavin Loven would lead the team in goals, points, and plus/minus with 61, 78, and +60 respectively.
Zahn Werner would lead the team in assists with 18.
Crystal Gettman was the only Spirit player to not record a penalty this season.

The Spirit scored 156 goals this year and gave up only 75.

Springfield had 5 players hit the double digit mark in goals the season: Loven-61, Wirth- 26, Werner- 20, Kettering-11, Peters-10.

Spirit win both playoff games, earn berth in State Championship

By Miguel Franco 02/27/2017, 10:15am CST

With a berth in the State Championship on the line the #1 Springfield Spirit took to the ice in St. Louis this past weekend in a single elimination playoff bracket. The Spirit were dominate in every fashion, proving why they earned the #1 seed in league play.

In game 1 the Spirit would play a very familiar opponent in the Twin Bridges Lightning. The Spirit took all 3 games from the Lightning from declaration to regular season play winning by scores of 6-0, 4-0, and 3-0. Springfield wanted to come out and make a statement in their opening game of the playoffs and they would need to do so without the assistance of Gage Robb who was out with an illness. Midway through the first period Logan Ripper and John Brown combined to setup Wyatt Wirth who scored to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later Will Peters found Zahn Werner who would find an open Brooks Kettering to put the Spirit up by 2. Just over two minutes later leading scorer Gavin Loven would break in all alone for an unassisted goal to make it 3-0. Twin Bridges would strike back with their first goal against the Spirit this season off a turnover in the Springfield end, the period would close 3-1. In the second period John Brown would find Logan Ripper wide open in front of the goal and he would bury it for a 4-1 Spirit lead. Late in the second Loven would take the puck end to end again to score for a 5-1 lead. That would be it for the second period as the Spirit turned it on and the Lightning were just trying to hang on. In the third period Loven sent a shot off the goalie and Kurt Buckman was there to collect a rebound to put the Spirit ahead 6-1. Loven would tally the hat trick three minutes later on another great individual effort.  Late in the third Ripper would fire a puck off the goalie’s pads and Brown would collect the rebound and put it in the back of the net. The Spirit would make their statement to the league with an 8-1 dominating win.

In game 2 the Spirit would play a much tougher opponent in the Kirkwood #2 Stars with a chance to play for the State Championship. Springfield got Gage Robb back for this game and had a full team ready to go. Springfield and Kirkwood #2 battled this year with the Spirit winning 2-1 and tying the other game 2-2 so they knew they had to increase their level of intensity if they wanted to win this game. Throughout much of the first period play went end to end with some Stars chances and some Spirit chances on goal. Springfield carried most of the play but couldn’t find the back of the net. It wasn’t until the waning seconds that Zahn Werner moved the puck into the corner to Brooks Kettering. Kettering faked going around the net and put the puck out short side to Will Peters who would score with 0.8 seconds remaining for a 1-0 Spirit lead. This was a huge momentum goal going into the break and the Spirit kept pushing for more. Midway through the second Kettering returned the favor by sending the puck to Werner on the blue line. Werner found an open Gavin Loven across the ice who would over power the Stars goalie for a 2-0 lead. Kirkwood pressed in the second but defense stood tall and Cooper Pumphrey made some key stops to keep the lead at 2. The third period belonged to the Spirit who smothered every opportunity the Stars had, an impressive defensive effort. Late in the third Peters found Werner on the point who sent a shot on goal. The puck would be deflected in by Kettering and put the game out of reach with a 3-0 lead. That would be it for the game as the Spirit, in dominating fashion would win and earn the right to play for the State Championship.

The Spirit will play the Kirkwood #1 Stars in the State Championship game next weekend 3/5/17 at 10:40am. The game with be at the Hardee’s Iceplex in Chesterfield, MO.

Championship preview
Springfield and Kirkwood #1 met 3 times this season. Kirkwood took the first game in declaration by a score of 3-2. The Spirit would sweep the Stars in league play winning by scores of 3-1 and 5-3. Springfield will need to bring its stingy defense to the table as Kirkwood’s offense scored the most goals out of any team in the regular season with 80 goals. The Spirit have given up only 23 goals this year and can score at will. Defense will be the key in the State Championship.

Springfield splits 4 games in Dallas, TX

By Miguel Franco 02/21/2017, 11:45am CST

In the Spirit’s third and final tournament of the year they would travel to Dallas, TX. In a physical weekend and having a short bench, they did very well going 2-2.

In a very rough opening game to start the tournament, the Spirit would take on the Dallas Stars Elite Girls team. At 5:28 of the first period, Gavin Loven found the back of the net off assists from Brooks Kettering and Will Peters to give the Spirit a 1-0 lead. That would be all for the first as the Spirit carried most of the play. Less than 2 minutes into period 2 John Brown and Zahn Werner found Will Peters who split two D and walked around the goalie to tuck the puck in the net for a 2-0 lead. Less than two minutes later the Stars would strike back to cut the lead to 1, but three minutes later Gavin Loven broke free and outskated two defenseman for a shorthanded goal. Late in the second a seeing eye shot from the point by Dallas found the back of the net to cut the lead to 1 again at 3-2. Early in the third period Kettering found Love again who made no mistake and put the puck in the back of the net for the hat trick. This would put the game out of reach as Dallas had a 6 on 4 late in the game but could not convert due to some stingy Spirit defense led by goaltender Cooper Pumphrey. Spirit would win the game 4-2; Pumphrey stopped 21 of 23 shots in a great effort. First star of the game went to Gavin Loven with 3 goals. Second star went to Will Peters with a goal and an assist. Third star went to Brooks Kettering with 2 assists.

In game 2 the Spirit went up against the Texas Jr. Stars. Just over three minutes into the game Wyatt Wirth sent a shot on goal and the goalie made a pad save but coughed up a rebound to a wide open Gage Robb. Robb went to the backhand to put the Spirit up 1-0. At the 7:26 mark on the power play, Kurt Buckman found Wyatt Wirth who again sent a shot on goal. The goalie saved the first shot but was unable to control the rebound as Robb collected the puck and put it in the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. Just over a minute later Gavin Loven would tally on a nice unassisted goal to push the lead to 3. The Spirit were not done there as with just over a minute left in one of the better passing plays all year, John Brown found Robb in the slot. Robb went behind the back to pass it to a wide open Buckman who would score his first of the game to make it 4-0. Rebounds continued in the second period as Will Peters jumped in on the scoring action, collecting a Loven rebound to make it 5-0. At the 9:46 mark, Robb broke in alone and beat the Stars netminder for his first career hat trick. Robb and Wirth would connect again, this time shorthanded as Wirth would tally his first of the game. Just over a minute later Wirth would score again on a nice shot off the post and in for an 8-0 Spirit lead. The 2nd period would come to an end as the Spirit dominated play in every zone. Four minutes into the 3rd period Peters found Loven who would score his second of the game to increase the lead to 9. The Stars would come back to net 2 of their own back to back to make it 9-2. Late in the third off a Megan Fisch pass, Zahn Werner would collect the puck and go down to extend the lead to 8 again. Less than a minute later déjà vu as Werner again went coast to coast to make it 11-2 Spirit. The Stars would tally one more but this game was dominated by the Spirit from the drop of the puck, 11-3 Spirit win. Robb earned the first star of the game with 3 goals and 2 assists. Second star went to Gavin Loven with 2 goals and 1 assist. Third star goes to Zahn Werner who scored twice.

In Game 3 with a chance to secure the number 1 spot for the playoff round the Spirit would meet the PHC Mallards, a AA team out of Austin, TX. The Mallard had their way with the Spirit scoring 8 first period goals in route to a 10-2 win. A great team who moved the puck very well, the Mallards were relentless in the offensive zone. Gavin Loven would notch 2 goals and John Brown and Zahn Werner picked up assists in the loss.

In the semi-final round the Spirit would play the Texas Warriors, yet another AA opponent. In a game where the Spirit had chances to score, a very tough Warriors goalie shut the door. Texas capitalized on their chances in route to a 6-0 win. The Warriors were a good team but this was a game the Spirit wish they could have back as they seemed out of gas with a short bench due to missing two players on the trip. This would end the weekend for the Spirit at 2-2. Not bad as they earned the respect of the teams in Texas.

The Spirit are now 28-5-3 on the year and will travel to St. Louis for playoffs on February 25th as the top seed. They will play the winner of Twin Bridges/Chesterfield.

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