Alexandria has advanced to the Western Division Final against Granite City after beating Mason City in a thrilling 3 games series.
Game 1 Friday night the Blizzard defended home ice with a 3-2 victory. Jack Whitmore got the Blizzard started scoring on a wrist shot from the slot after a rebound from Hayden Demars. Jameson O’Flynn also picked up an assist. Mason City tied the game in the final minute of the 1st period. Sean Kenny scored midway through the 2nd off a nice pass from Matt McIntyre for a 2-1 Blizzard lead. Wyatt Johnson fed McIntyre with an outlet pass for the 2nd assist. Joe Gronholz beat Connor Graham through the five hole on a wrist shot early in the 3rd for a 3-1 lead which they never surrendered hanging on for a 3-2 victory. Demars and O’Flynn had 2 assists each. Charlie Larsen also had an assist and Konrad Kausch got the victory in net with 24 saves.
Game 2 Saturday afternoon in Mason City saw the Blizzard fall behind early and trailed 2-0 all the way into the 3rd period when Hayden Demars scored off assists from Jackson Eckblad and Jack Whitmore. The Blizzard outshot Mason City 16-5 in the 3rd, but never got any closer as the Toros added one more midway through and held on for a 3-1 victory.
The deciding Game 3 Sunday night back at the RCC was another tense one until midway through the 3rd period when the Blizzard erupted and ended up cruising to a 9-2 victory. That score was not indicative of the game as it was tightly contested throughout the first 50 minutes. Sean Kenny led the way with a hat trick. He scored both Blizzard 1st period goals for a 2-1 lead after one. Justin Wasvick scored his 1st of the post season in the 2nd period, but Mason City came right back to cut the lead to 3-2 after two. Jack Whitmore took a defensive zone face off and sent the puck the other way around the boards where Hayden Demars made a great play on the steal and started a 2 on 1 break with Joe Gronholz who buried the pass from Demars. That made it 4-2 with just under 13 minutes to play. Then the Blizzard exploded for 4 goals in a span of two and half minutes including Sean Kenny’s Hat Trick and two from Cole Klingbeil :19 seconds apart. Ryan Hadland and Michael Debrito had the other two tallies in the period. Konrad Kausch played brilliantly in the win stopping 29 of 31. Kenny led all scorers with 4 points. Wyatt Johnson, and Ryan Hadland had 3 points, and Klinbeil, Gronholz, DeBrito, and Wasvick had 2 point nights.
Alexandria is on to the Division Finals against Granite City this weekend. Game 1 is Friday night at Granite City at 7:30 pm. Game 2 is in Alexandria Saturday night at 7:10 pm. Game 3 (if necessary) would be Sunday at Granite City at 5:00 pm. Tickets available by clicking the Ticket tab on the home page or at the door. Every game is broadcasted on hockeytv.com
