Jake Neighbours of Airdrie scored lots of goals for the U15 AAA Airdrie Xtreme, the Pursuit of Excellence U15 Prep School, and the Calgary Buffloes U18 AAA club.  He's scored 63 for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL and has two so far in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues.

Now, the 20 year old, first round NHL draft pick can add an American Hockey League marker to his growing resume.

Neighbours notched his first AHL goal last night, the insurance goal that gave the Springfield Thunderbirds a 2 - 0 decision over the Milwaukee Admirals.

Neighbours goal was more impressive since it was scored short-handed.  While the T-Birds were down a man in the third period, Neighbours put the game away when he stole the puck from Milwaukee netminder Devin Cooley near the goal line and tucked home a wraparound backhander at the 6:30 mark of the period. 

Neighbours might have wished it was the opening goal of the game.  That honour on Teddy Bear Toss Night in Springfield went to Matthew Highmore who brought teddy bears down from every corner of the arena when he tapped in a power-play goal at 6:07 of the first period to make it 1 - 0.

His first AHL goal means that Neighbours now has six points in eleven games with Springfield to go along with one goal in 13 games with the St. Louis Blues. 

The win for Springfield gives them a record of 9-10-1-4 and their first shutout of the season.  The T-Birds next see action on Wednesday night when they travel to Bridgeport for a game with the Islanders.  

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