Alexandria finished off the regular season with 1 point over the weekend setting up a playoff match up with the 1st place North Iowa Bulls.
Friday night they hosted New Ulm and lost in a shootout 2-1. New Ulm jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Nikolai Rajala got the Blizzard on the board with his 7th of the season. Wesley Johnson and Sean Kenny picked up the assists. Dallas Duckson scored late in the 2nd period to tie the game 2-2 with assists from Jared Sanborn and Colin Tushie. Despite putting up 58 shots the Blizzard could not solve Zach Foster the rest of the way, and New Ulm prevailed in the shootout.
Saturday night Willmar came to town for the final home game of the regular season and shut out the Blizzard 2-0. This time the Blizzard put up 39 shots but couldn’t get one past Lukas Haugen, which sealed their 4th place finish in the West.
Sunday they traveled to Granite City and lost 6-3 in the regular season finale. Austin McNeil gave the Blizzard an early lead two minutes into the game with his 11th of the year off an assist from Cole Jacobs, but the Lumberjacks countered with three unanswered for a 3-1 lead after one. Alex Illies scored his first Blizzard goal pulling the Blizzard to within one at 3-2 heading into the 3rd period. Cole Lehmann got the assist on Illies’s shorthanded goal. Granite City scored a shorthanded goal of their own early in the 3rd before Austin McNeil’s 12th of the year, on the power play, pulled the Blizzard back to within a goal at 4-3 but Granite City scored the final two goals to cap the victory.
The Blizzard (17-20-1-2 – 37pts) will play North Iowa in a best of three 1st round playoff series this weekend. Game 1 will be at North Iowa on Friday April 2nd at 7:30 pm. Game 2 will be home on Saturday April 3rd at 7:10 pm. Game 3 ( If Necessary )will be Easter Sunday in North Iowa at 5:30 pm. Tickets for Game 2 are available online at tickets.alexandriablizzard.com. Catch the action online as well at hockeytv.com
