The Alexandria Blizzard opened their ’20-’21 season this weekend with two games on the road. Friday night the Blizzard suffered a tough 9-1 loss to North Iowa. Alex Heidenreich gave the Blizzard an early lead six minutes into the game on assists from Andrew Revering and Jack Taylor, but it was all North Iowa after that as they cruised to victory.
Saturday night the Blizzard looked to bounce back in New Ulm, and did, with a 5-3 victory against the Steel. Cole Jacobs scored about seven and a half minutes in with an assist from Austin McNeil for an early lead once again. Caleb Strong gave Alexandria a 2-0 lead three minutes later with assists from Sean Kenny, and Nolan Westra. The Steel got on the board a couple minutes later to pull within 2-1 after one. The 2nd period remained scoreless until late when Austin Mcneil broke loose on a breakaway. After being denied on the initial attempt, McNeil stayed with the puck and banked it off the Steel goaltender from behind to give the Blizzard a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd. Cole Lehman scored 5:39 into the 3rd with assists from Strong and Kenny to give the Blizzard a 4-1 lead. New Ulm game back with two of their own to pull within a goal late, but Caleb Strong sealed the 5-3 victory with his 2nd goal of the game into the empty net. Strong led all scorers with 3 points. Austin Mcneil scored twice and Cole Jacobs along with Sean Kenny each had 2 assists. The Blizzard outshot the Steel 45-26, and Bailey Rosch got the win in between the pipes with a 23 save performance.
This coming weekend Alexandria is back in New Ulm (1-1) Friday night for a 7:10 puck drop. Then it’ll be Alexandria’s home opener on Saturday night as the Blizzard host the Willmar WarHawks (1-1) at 7:10 CDT.