The Alexandria Blizzard and the Twin City Steel were evenly matched throughout their contest, but Alexandria made the most of its opportunities and won, 4-2.
The Blizzard gained the winning advantage on a goal by Bo Gronseth 19:08 into the second period and hung on until final buzzer.
Aaron Ryback had one goal and three assists to lead Alexandria. Ryback scored 19:28 into the third period to make the score 4-2 Alexandria. Gronseth provided the assist.
The Blizzard\’s penalty kill excelled, as Alexandria gave up one goal despite allowing seven power plays.
The Blizzard racked up the penalties in the contest, and ended with seven minors and one major for 29 minutes in penalty time. Alexandria had been averaging 21.0 minutes in penalties per game.
Alexandria also got points from Jesse Norling, who also finished with one goal and one assist and Gronseth, who also grabbed one goal and one assist. Alexandria also got a goal from Tyler Sworsky as well. Other players who recorded assists for Alexandria were Trent Olson, Eric Hewitt, and Tom Schmidt, who contributed one each.
Twin City\’s penalty killing units received substantial work throughout the game as the Steel finished with 24 penalty minutes.
Twin City was helped by Mikko Aho, who registered one goal. Aho scored 18:39 into the third period to make the score 3-2 Alexandria. Jon Plaszcz assisted on the tally. Twin City additionally got points from Plaszcz, who also tallied one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. More assists for Twin City came via Mathias Ahman, Alex Egle, and Russel Barone, who each chipped in one.
Evan Bisek made 27 saves for the Blizzard on 29 shots. Alexandria registered one goal on six power play opportunities. For the Blizzard, Gavin Mindt was ejected from the game. The Steel\’s Robbie Goor stopped 26 shots out of the 29 that he faced.
