The Alexandria Blizzard opened the weekend with their third straight road game and second in a row at New Ulm. The Steel were seemingly in control of this one up 3-1 until about the 8:00 minute mark of the 3rd period. That’s when Alexandria started to swing the momentum in their favor. Cole Jacobs pulled the Blizzard within one with his first goal of the year. Austin Mcneil, and Logan Stellmach picked up the assists. Four minutes later McNeil tied the game at 3-3. Cole Kligbeil scored his first of the year to give the Blizzard their first lead at 4-3 with just over two minutes remaining. Caleb Strong ended the Blizzard four goal barrage in the 3rd with an empty netter to complete the 5-3 comeback. Strong and McNeil each had 2 point nights. Bailey Rosch had a monster game in goal with 47 saves for his 2nd victory of the year.
Saturday Night the Willmar Warhawks visited Alexandria for a wild home opener. Matthew Thompson and Benjamin Tschida set up Brandon Greeder for an early Blizzard lead. The Blizzard went up 2-0 midway through the 1st period when Cole Lehman scored off a blast from the point on the power play with assists from Andrew Revering and Nikolai Rajala. Willmar got on the board late in the first scoring with just 17 seconds left. Carrying the momentum into the second, Willmar tied the game at 2-2 six minutes in. But the Blizzard regained their two goal lead when Dallas Duckson caught fire scoring twice in the final four minutes of the period for a 4-2 lead after two. The 3rd period turned out to be even more entertaining. The Warhawks stole the momentum back with two goals in the first seven minutes to tie the game at 4-4, but Alexandria’s Wyatt Blahosky sprung Nolan Westra who buried his first of the year to put the Blizzard back on top 5-4 just 17 seconds after Willmar had tied it. The Warhawks wouldn’t quit tying it at 5-5 within a minute of Westra’s goal. Sean Kenny gave the Blizzard a 6-5 lead scoring on the power play with 4 minutes left, but Willmar shocked the home crowd with a late goal tying it once again with just 11 second to play. The Warhawks ended OT :30 seconds in for a 7-6 victory. Westra led all Blizzard scorers with 3 points (1G 2A) Blahosky, Revering and Duckson each had 2 point nights.
Alexandria (2-1-1 – 5 pts) leads the West Division after two weeks. They’re back home Friday night to host the Willmar WarHawks (2-1 – 4 pts) once again at 7:10 CDT.
Avoid the line buy your tickets online at tickets.alexandriablizzard.com or watch the action on hockeytv.com