The Springfield Spirit hit the road for their second tournament of the year this past weekend. In a very fast and physical weekend, the Spirit earned second place in Ultimate Tournaments Arctic Blast.

In game one the Spirit took on the Bloomington Thunder out of Bloomington, IL. At 11:20 on the first period, Megan Fisch found Wyatt Wirth who put the Spirit on the board early. Midway through the first the Thunder would have an answer and knot it up at 1. With 57 seconds remaining in the 1st period Cal Bussen shot the puck from the point and it was deflected off the post. Gavin Loven found the rebound to make it 2-1 Spirit. In the 2nd period Bussen and Loven would connect again to make it 3-1. This would be it for the second as we saw some end to end action and some great stops by the goaltenders. It looked like the Spirit would take this one as the third period was scoreless until the last couple minutes. Bloomington scored with 1:18 remaining to set up a tense finish. Loven would complete the hat trick into the empty net off a Crystal Gettman feed to secure a 4-2 win. John Brown would get the Player of the Game belt as he was all over the ice frustrating the Bloomington offense.

In what was supposed to be a game against the Quad City Eagles from Quad City, IA, they were unable to make the trip due to weather concerns. The Meramec Sharks threw a team together with a mixture of AA squirts, A, and B peewee players.  It took awhile to get on the board in this one as a fast Meramec team frustrated the Spirit early. It wasn’t until 1:28 left in the first when Zahn Werner found Gavin Loven who made no mistake and put the Spirit up 1-0. Werner and Loven connected again to make it 2-0 early in the second period. Midway through the second, Loven would tally 2 more unassisted giving him 4 goals in two periods of play. Late in the second Gage Robb jumped in on the scoring action, poking a rebound home for a commanding 5-0 lead. Less than 20 seconds later Meramec would score to make it 5-1. They would tally again midway through the third to cut the Spirit’s lead to three. At the 4:30 mark of the third Loven would get his 5th goal of the game unassisted and then with 1:20 remaining Kurt Buckman found a rebound and hammered it home for a 7-2 final. Kurt Buckman earned player of the game honors with his great offensive zone play and net front presence.

Game 3 brought the Chicago Jr. Bruins. In a must win game for the Bruins they brought everything they had in an attempt to win. In a scoreless first period up until the 1:22 mark, Gavin Loven found the back of the net for a 1-0 Spirit lead. A penalty plagued second period put the Spirit in trouble but some key blocks from Gage Robb on the 5 on 3 and Cooper Pumphrey kept the Spirit out front. It wasn’t until 45 seconds left in the period that a seeing eye shot from the point found the back of the net and Chicago tied it up at 1. At 11:33 of the 3rd Loven found Wyatt Wirth in the clear on a breakaway and he went forehand to backhand to put the Spirit up 2-1. Midway through the third it was Brooks Kettering finding Loven for a 3-1 lead. A Chicago surge late in the third was constantly turned away by the play of Pumphrey. The 10 year old first year peewee continues to prove himself in this 2016-2017 season. The Spirit would win 3-1 and send them to the Championship to rematch Bloomington. Cooper Pumphrey earned a team best, third player of the game with many saves on scoring opportunities for the Bruins.

In a rematch from Friday nights 3-1 win, the Spirit would need their best game to beat the Bloomington Thunder. Midway through the first, the Thunder broke a scoreless tie to put them out front 1-0. The Spirit came back 2 minutes later with a Brooks Kettering power play goal set up by Gavin Loven. Under a minute later the Thunder had an answer of their own and regained the lead 2-1. The second period went scoreless as there were chances at both ends, including a Will Peters shot that got behind the goalie but somehow did not go in. Crystal Gettman had another chance right out front but the puck took a weird bounce right over her stick, a little unlucky for the Spirit as all the bounces were going to the Thunder on this day. With less than 2 minutes to go in the second the Thunder scored again to make it 3-1. In the third the Spirit were frustrated by the Bloomington defense and could never overcome the 2 goal deficit. Bloomington would win the game and the championship. The Spirit placed second in a great tournament by both teams. Brooks Kettering earned player of the game honors in getting the only Spirit goal in this game.

Weekend notes:
In what turned out to be a AA tournament the Spirit held their own against some fast teams.
Gavin Loven scored 9 goals in 4 games giving him 40 goals on the season.

The Spirit are off this weekend and return to action Jan 28-29 on the road against Twin Bridges and Southern Illinois.