(Walpole, MA) -- The Walpole Express Jr. A and B teams both went 2-1 during the final AJHL/MJHL Showcase of the season, held Feb. 13-16 at Iorio Arena. Still battling for the second-place spot in the AJHL North division, the Express A team picked up four crucial points to keep pace with the Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack and provide a little breathing room between the Walpole team and the fourth-place Boston Bulldogs.

To capture those points the Express won their first two games, beating the Washington Jr. Nationals on Friday 3-1 and New Jersey Rockets 4-2 on Saturday. On Sunday, they lost a tough battle with the South Division leaders, the New York Bobcats, finishing 1-0. Georgiy Gurianov, Charles LaChance, Cody Armstrong, Lou Malvasi and Matt Harrington all had multi-point weekend. Travis Owens had the win in net against Washington and Rich Stine excelled against the Rockets and Bobcats.

"I liked the way we played this weekend,” said Head Coach Mark Kumpel. “We bounced back after the Hartford loss last week and got back in the win column. We have two with the Bulldogs this week and those will be swing games for both teams."

The Express B team played their toughest stretch of games to date. On Saturday, they rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers 3-2. On Sunday, the Express jumped out to and early 2-0 lead over the New Jersey Titans and finished with a 3-1 win. The lone blemish on the weekend was the much anticipated match-up with the high-powered Suffolk PAL -- a game the Express dropped 4-2. Joe Gladnick and Zach Andrews got wins in net while JP Kascsak, Jordan Fragoza and Jason Methot led the way up front.

Express B Head Coach Tony Dalessio said he was pleased overall with his team’s play this weekend. "We knew it was going to be a tough weekend and a good test to play three quality games in a row,” Dalessio said. “Unfortunately for us, we couldn't stay out of the box on Monday and Suffolk's explosive offense made us pay for it. Our focus now is taking care of the Cyclones and getting ready for Portland in the first round of the playoffs."

Upcoming Games
Things heat up for the Express this week as the A team hosts the Boston Bulldogs at Iorio Arena Wednesday night and the Portland Jr. Pirates on Saturday, and then travels to the Bulldogs on Sunday. The B team will face non-league action this weekend with a pair of games at Empire Junior Hockey League's New England Falcons in Springfield, Mass. The team will finish up the MJHL regular season when they host the Northern Cyclones at Iorio Arena on Feb. 28 and March 1.