Sunday, April 2, 2017

Granite City Lumberjacks NA3HL Silver Cup Champions

The Granite City Lumberjacks are the NA3HL Silver Cup Champions for the 2016-2017 hockey season. The Lumberjacks defeated the Metro Jets 2-1 in the championship game Sunday afternoon. The new champions advanced to the title game after defeating the Binghamton Junior Senators 3-2 in the semi-finals game on Saturday. The jets advanced upon a 6-1 victory over the Yellowstone Quake.

The Metro Jets opened the scoring in the first period on the power play when Evan Newel scored at 3:41. He was assisted by Robby Flannery. Granite City answered in the second period with a pair of goals.

Granite City Lumberjacks -- courtesy NA3HL
Ryan Smith tied the game three minutes into the second period. He was assisted by Owen Sikich and Braden Altena. Matthew Moran scored the game winner just 59 seconds later, with the assist coming from Eric Moser. Mac Berglove made 35 saves in the win and captured MVP honors with his performance. Granite City previously won the Silver Cup in 2015 and 2012.

Northeast Division representatives, Binghamton, defeated Jersey Shore to advance to the Championship Tournament, 3-2 and 5-2 last weekend. In the first of three games in the round robin tournament, the Junior Senators defeated the Long Beach Sharks 8-1. They fell in overtime to the North Iowa Bulls, 3-2, in game two. They then defeated the Yellowstone Quake in game three, 3-2. Binghamton claimed the top seed in Pool B for the semi-final matchup against Granite City.