Jr. Sabres Look to Continue Streak

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The Buffalo Jr. Sabres look to continue their winning ways and extend their victorious streak to four games as they prepare to host the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The three-game winning streak began with a dominating 7-2 victory over the Hamilton Red Wings on January 19.

Ryan Schmelzer led Buffalo with two goals and a pair of assists for a four-point night, while David Seward also had two goals and one assist. Pat Egan, Tim Kielich and Nathan Pelligra also scored for the Jr. Sabres in the win.

Chris Micallef and Harrison Luce had the goals for Hamilton, while Buffalo goaltender Bobby Bloomfield had 21 saves in the win.

The winning ways continued with a 6-2 victory over the Milton IceHawks on January 23 in Amherst, NY.

Tyler Gjurich and Brian Ruff each had a pair of goals, with Seward and Egan also scoring in the win. Netminder Parker Gahagen, who recently committed to Army, had 33 saves for the victory.

Following the win, the Jr. Sabres traveled to Orangeville to take on the Flyers on January 26. Four-point nights from Gjurich and Nolan Sheeran led the team to an 8-5 victory over the Orangeville squad.

Gjurich and Sheeran each had a hat trick and an assist in the win, while Schmelzer and Max Mikowski added the other goals for Buffalo.

The goaltending rotation continued with Bloomfield taking the ice again, stopping 29 of 34 shots faced.

Tonight’s game against the Lakeshore Patriots is Buffalo’s final game of the month. The Jr. Sabres have won five of seven games this month, with the losses coming to Georgetown on January 5 and Orangeville on the fifteenth of the month.

This is the fifth meeting between Toronto Lakeshore and Buffalo this season, with each team having won a pair of games so far.

Buffalo won 5-4 on October 22 before Toronto Lakeshore took a 2-1 win on November 24. The Jr. Sabres took the next game, a 3-2 victory on December 18, before Toronto Lakeshore came out on top 5-4 in the shootout on December 22.

Gjurich has five goals in four games against Toronto Lakeshore this season for the Jr. Sabres, while Daniel Tedesco has four goals in the season series for Toronto Lakeshore.

Overall this season, Gjurich leads the Jr. Sabres and the OJHL with 83 points (43-40) in 45 games. Tedesco leads the Patriots with 53 points (23-30) in 40 games played.

Buffalo is 30-1-1-0-4-11 this season; the team’s 68 points are just one shy of Trenton for the top spot in the OJHL, and Buffalo also leads the league with 216 goals-for. Toronto Lakeshore has 62 points on the season, having won 24 of 46 games played. They are 14-3-1-4 at home this season.

Tonight’s game is the final meeting between the Jr. Sabres and the Patriots this season.