AFFTON, Mo. – For St. Louis forward Zach Lodes, helping teammates score was the easy part of his first six NA3HL games. Getting his own number called? That was the hard part.
Lodes had his number called Saturday afternoon with a breakout game against the North Iowa Bulls, scoring his first two goals as a Jr. Blue in a 3-1 victory, forcing a split against the Bulls in the teams’ weekend series in Missouri. The second of those was an eventual game-winner late in the second period.
After almost 12 minutes of scoreless hockey, St. Louis got on the board first, with Hunter Muzzillo setting up Lodes’s first goal of the day. Ian Doner (Mukilteo, Wash./Janesville Jets) answered right back, tying the game at 1-1 just 26 seconds later.
After almost an entire second period of scoreless hockey, the Jr. Blues went on a brief scoring binge heading to the third. Colton Markiewicz’s elbowing minor with 2:36 remaining in the stanza opened up a shorthanded opportunity for Lodes, who scored unassisted just 12 seconds later to take a 2-1 lead.
Joey Petronack (White Bear Lake, Minn./Hill-Murray H.S.) took a penalty of his own with 1:25 remaining in the period, and right after Markiewicz’s penalty ended, Lodes set up Jr. Blues captain Joe Papa for an insurance goal on the power play. St. Louis took a 3-1 lead out of the second intermission, and out-shot their visitors 11-4 over a scoreless final 20 minutes.
Connor Poczos (Austin, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) held St. Louis to a single goal on 18 chances in the first period, but Evan Babekuhl (Long Lake, Minn./Orono H.S.) took the loss, stopping 24 of the home team’s 26 shots. After taking the loss Friday night, Mikael Foucher made 21 saves for his third win of the season.
North Iowa was out-shot 44-22 in the game, and went without a power-play goal for the fourth straight game. The Bulls have now gone 23 straight chances with the extra man without putting away a power-play goal, but have scored three goals on the penalty-kill in that same stint. St. Louis went 1-for-5 with the extra man.
The Bulls fall to 5-3-0-0 on the year, while St. Louis climbs to 5-1-1-0 on the young season. North Iowa returns to West Division play next week with a two-game set at defending division champion Granite City. Both games against the Lumberjacks kick off at 7:30 p.m., with live streaming coverage of all Bulls games on HockeyTV. Saturday’s game will also be audio-streamed live on Mixlr.
North Iowa returns to the “Barn” on Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct. 20 to face the Breezy Point North Stars and celebrate our first responders. Firefighters will be honored on “Fire and Ice Night” on Friday night, while law-enforcement will be honored at “Light It Up Night” on Saturday night. For advance tickets to those games, or any future Bulls home game, click here.
North Iowa 1 0 0 – 1
St. Louis 1 2 0 – 3
1st Period-1, St. Louis, Lodes 1 (Muzzillo), 11:57. 2, North Iowa, doner 1 12:23. Penalties-Giddings Nio (tripping-minor), 7:30; Dahlseide Nio (tripping-minor), 16:13; Lodes Stl (elbowing-minor), 16:37.
2nd Period-3, St. Louis, Lodes 2 17:36 (SH). 4, St. Louis, Papa 3 (Lodes), 19:44 (PP). Penalties-Markiewicz Stl (tripping-minor), 0:59; Faulkner Stl (tripping-minor), 7:32; Petronack Nio (hooking-minor), 10:14; Johnson Nio (charging-minor), 12:43; Wilson Stl (unsportsmanlike conduct-minor), 12:43; Monreal Stl (slashing-minor), 14:21; Verstegen Nio (tripping-minor), 15:28; Markiewicz Stl (elbowing-minor), 17:24; Petronack Nio (holding-minor), 18:35.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Felts Stl (cross checking-minor), 7:39; Bogach Nio (interference-minor), 16:12.
Shots on Goal-North Iowa 9-9-4-22. St. Louis 18-15-11-44.
Power Play Opportunities-North Iowa 0 / 6; St. Louis 1 / 6.
Goalies-North Iowa, Poczos 2-0-0-0 (18 shots-17 saves); Babekuhl 1-2-0-0 (26 shots-24 saves). St. Louis, Foucher 3-1-1-0 (22 shots-21 saves).
A-165
Referees-Ian McCambridge.
Linesmen-Eric Arrigo, Jack Young.