The Alexandria Blizzard played their 5th straight road game to start the season on Friday at Granite City and then hosted Willmar Saturday in their home opener.
Friday night the Blizzard came so close to their first road win, but lost 3-2 to the Lumberjacks. Alex Heidenreich gave the Blizzard a 1-0 lead at the 5:52 mark of the 1st period with assists from Ethan Moerke and Cole Klingbeil. Granite City tied the game two minutes into the 2nd period, but then Sean Kenny put the Blizzard back on top with a power play goal from Ryan Hadland midway through the period. Granite City scored the lone 3rd period goal and hung on for the one goal victory. Andrew Tuttle made 30 saves in his Blizzard debut.
Saturday night saw the Blizzard open their home schedule against Willmar in front of a packed house, and the Blizzard didn’t disappoint. Ryan Hadland scored his 3rd of the season eight and half minutes into the game for an early Blizzard lead. Joe Gronholz and Sean Kenny picked up the assists. Willmar tied the game six minutes later for a 1-1 score after one. The Blizzard capitalized off a two man advantage in the second when Kaden Peterson and Joe Gronholz set up Sean Kenny for 2-1 Blizzard lead. Two minutes later Gronholz scored another power play goal with assists from Peterson and Benjamin Tschida. Willmar didn’t give up though, tying the game at 3-3 midway through the 3rd period to set up a fantastic finish. Cole Klingeil scored with 1:22 remaining on assists from Matt Scribner and Ethan Moerke sending the home crowd into a frenzy, but Willmar silenced them a minute later scoring with just :22 seconds left to send the game into OT. After a thrilling back and forth overtime, Matt Scribner cut to the net and tipped in a pass from Ryan Hadland setting off a hog pile in front of the ecstatic home fans. Joey Greilich stopped 38 shots for the victory in nets.
The Blizzard will stay home this weekend hosting the Milwaukee Power Friday and Saturday night at 7:10 pm. Click the tickets tab above to get your seats or catch the action on hockeytv.com