Iron Range, Marquette teams advance
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Marquette's Brendan Little, right, brings the puck into the offensive zone pursued by Wyandotte's Jordan Burks in a game at the Midget 16-under B state finals hockey tournament on Saturday evening at Lakeview Arena in Marquette. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)
By Journal Sports Staff
MARQUETTE -- The two local teams entered in a pair of Midget state youth hockey tournaments appear to have advanced to today's semifinal round.
In the Midget 18-under BB event held at the Negaunee Ice Arena, the Negaunee-based Iron Range team completed a perfect 3-0 pool-play record with its closest game Saturday afternoon, a 6-1 victory over the Tawas Blackhawks.
Over in Marquette at the 16U B finals at Lakeview Arena, Marquette's Main Street Pizza-Bjork & Zhulkie bounced back from a Friday loss to win twice on Saturday and finished as one of two teams with a winning record in its pool.
Admission is free at both tournaments with semifinal games and the championship to be decided at each location today.
Here is a look at the events:
Midget 16U B
at Lakeview
Saturday's two late games in Pool B removed any need to employ tiebreakers to determine which teams would advance to the semifinals.
Marquette finished with a 2-1 pool record after a 6-3 victory over the Redford Rangers on Saturday morning and a 5-2 win over the Wyandotte Warriors in the evening. Main Street-B&Z joins the Livonia Flyers, which has a 3-0 mark, in advancing to the semifinals.
In other results from the pool on Saturday, Livonia blanked Wyandotte 5-0 and Livonia edged Redford 2-1.
Pool A had a result similar to Pool B, with the Detroit-area Metro Junior Jets winning with a 3-0 record and Westland Blazers also advancing at 2-1. Saturday's game scores were Metro dropping the Livonia Bruins 7-2, Westland getting by the St. Clair Shores Bruins 5-3, Westland dropping the Livonnia Bruins 6-1 and Metro beating St. Clair Shores 5-2.
In the semifinals, Marquette will play the Metro Junior Jets at 9 a.m. today at Lakeview's Russell Arena, while the Livonia Flyers face Westland at 9:30 a.m. at Olson Arena.
The championship game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Russell.
Midget 18U BB
at Negaunee
Pending the outcome of one final game, the semifinal matchups are set as a pair of winless teams were playing in Saturday's final game.
Iron Range's Pool B was complete with the Negaunee team outscoring its opposition 26-2 over three games, which included a 13-0 whitewash of the Livonia Bruins on Friday afternoon and 7-1 victory over Midland Feeny on Saturday morning.
Other Pool B scores were Tawas tying Midland 2-2 on Friday, Tawas beating Livonia 1-0 and Livonia downing Midland 3-1 on Saturday.
In Pool A, which included the other two Upper Peninsula teams, the Detroit-area Michigan Ice Hawks won with a 3-0 record, while the St. Ignace Saints were 2-1.
Pool A scores were St. Ignace over the Ontoangon Fighting Miners 6-3 and Michigan over the Westland Blazers 7-3 on Friday night; and Michigan over Ontonagon 9-3, St. Ignace over Westland 3-1, and Michigan over St. Ignace 2-1 on Saturday. The remaining game was Westland vs. Ontonagon with each team looking for its first win.
In today's semifinals, the Michigan Ice Hawks face Tawas at noon, with Iron Range squaring off against St. Ignace at 2 p.m. The championship is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@ miningjournal.net.