Jr. Generals, Jets and a Mountain Cat
Flint Jr. Generals and the Waterford-based Metro Jets are only 30 miles apart on Interstate 75 but 38 points separate the two teams in the East Division standings of the North American 3 Hockey League.
With a record of 36-3-2 and 74 points, coach Steve Howard’s Jr. Generals have already clinched a playoff spot.
The younger Jets, meanwhile, are in fifth place with 36 points from a record of 17-21-2 and in a desperate chase for the fourth-and-final playoff spot in the NA3HL East.
With eight games to play in the regular season, Metro trails the fourth-place Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks by five points and the third-place Toledo Cherokee by six. But Cleveland has two games in hand and Toledo has played three fewer than Metro.
Of Metro’s eight remaining games, six are on the road.
The Jets have four games left with Toledo and two apiece with Cleveland and the Pittsburgh Vengeance.
Back to Flint, the Jr. Generals now have one 20-goal scorer and four others closing in on that number.
Mark McGee has passed the 20-goal mark with 21 while Nick Gnagni, Conor Durgan and Brett Leppek have 19 apiece and Zach Koonce has potted 18.
The Jr. Generals have seven games to play in the regular season and could well have five 20-goal scorers by that time.
Meanwhile, the sixth-place Michigan Mountain Cats have already been eliminated from the playoffs but 1995 birth-year forward Kade Morrison is having a good season.
Morrison, who is in his third season with the Mountain Cats, leads the team in scoring with 14 goals, 15 assists, 29 points in 37 games.
For his NA3HL career, Morrison has played 130 games in a Mountain Cats uniform and has 35 goals, 31 assists, 66 points.
Morrison will play in the NA next year he is still young a 95 and can play in the NA.