The La Crosse Freeze\’s Tyler Gorniak had a big offensive game, scoring two goals and contributing two assists in his team\’s 5-2 win over the Alexandria Blizzard.
Gorniak found the back of the net 7:32 into the second period to make the score 1-1 and again while 19 seconds into the third to make the score 3-2 La Crosse.
Alexandria was unable to stop La Crosse from sending pucks towards the net, and the Freeze eventually piled up 46 shots on goal. La Crosse\’s penalty kill unit could not stop the Blizzard\’s power play, which converted on two of three opportunities.
La Crosse also got points from Hunter Breza, who also grabbed one goal and one assist and Chong Hyun Lee, who also finished with one goal and two assists. La Crosse also got a goal from Jake Lipski as well. More assists for La Crosse came via Luke Bing, Daniel Toycen, Hunter Smith, Dan Marotz, and Travis Hall, who each chipped in one.
Alexandria put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow the Freeze to score on any of their six power plays. The Blizzard kept La Crosse\’s goalie busy throughout the game, and Andrew Wagner made 33 saves on 35 shots. Alexandria was forced to rely heavily on their penalty kill unit throughout the game, as it racked up 26 penalty minutes.
The Blizzard were helped by Bo Gronseth, who racked up one goal and one assist. Gronseth scored on the power play 12:33 into the second period to make the score 2-1 Alexandria. Alexandria had gotten the advantage when the Freeze\’s Blake Olinyk was sent off for high sticking. Joe Carney provided the assist. Alexandria additionally got points from David Becker, who also had one goal and one assist. In addition, Alexandria received assists from Trent Olson, who had one.
La Crosse incurred 10 minutes in penalty time with five minors. The Blizzard\’s Tanner Elmore stopped 41 shots out of the 46 that he faced.
