Klisz scores late, Jets hang on to top Toledo Sunday

WATERFORD, MI - Steve Klisz scored his team-best 13th goal of the season with six minutes left in the third period and the Metro Jets held on to defeat the Toledo Cherokee, 4-3, Sunday afternoon at Lakeland Arena.

Mike MacKinnon had given the Jets a 3-2 lead at 8:23 of the third, only to have Charles Kingston tie the game for Toledo 44 seconds later.

The Jets (11-8-0-0) played with a short bench after a handful of players were benched for arriving late to practice Saturday and defenseman Andrew Shalawylo left the game with an upper-body injury in the middle of the second period.

"We played with a skeleton crew and when guys are late getting to practice or miss practice, you don't play," Metro head coach Jason Cirone said. "I think that shows disrespect to teammates and me when that happens. I thought the kids that played today were unbelievable, especially our goalie (Dillon Kelley), who I think is finally recognizing what it takes to be a junior hockey player."

Kelley made 29 saves for his fourth win of the season, while Austyn Roudebush finished with 26 stops for Toledo.

Chris Hellebuyck and Josh Beleski scored the other Jets goals and captain Tommy Kilgore chipped in with two assists.

"We played the exact game we played last Wednesday night in Flint," said Cirone. "There was no panic and I thought we dominated for the first two periods and even when we took the lead in the third, I didn't think we played as well as we could have played."

The Jets are off until next Sunday when they travel to Darien, Ill., to play in the Combat Hockey NA3HL Showcase, starting a stretch of six games in eight days. Metro will play the Quad City Jr. Flames (Sun. Dec. 4, 4:30 p.m. CST), Peoria Mustangs (Mon. Dec. 5, 9:30 a.m.), Minnesota Flying Aces (Tues. Dec. 6, 12:30 p.m.) and North Iowa Bulls (Weds. Dec. 7, 11:30 a.m.) at the Darien Sportsplex.

"I think four wins is a realistic goal and I wouldn't want anything less," said Cirone. "Hopefully, our work ethic from the past two games will carry over into the showcase."

Metro will host the Queen City Steam Dec. 10-11 at Lakeland.