BLIZZARD SIT IN 3RD PLACE IN THE WEST, 2 POINTS BEHIND GRANITE
With the Alexandria Blizzard heading south this weekend to take on the Mason City Toros, the fight is on in the West Division with Granite City, Rochester and the Blizzard. Jack Dube opened the scoring for the Blizzard Friday night as he got one past Drew Blake at the 8:21 mark of the 1st period. Matt Scribner and Parker Anthony had the helpers on what was the only Blizzard goal of the game. Neither team could produce any offense until Robertson of the Toros beat LaCosse at the 6:05 mark of the 2nd to tie the game at 1. With a late power play opportunity in the 2nd, Mason City took the lead on a goal from Thomas and added a third goal in the final seconds of the 2nd period to make it 3-1 Toros. The Blizzard held the Toros to 0/3 on their power play chances in the 3rd but were unable to get another past Blake and fell 3-1.
With Granite City also falling Friday night to the West Bend Power, the “Quest for the West” stayed tight. Saturday’s game was a continuation of Friday with both teams failing to produce any offense during the 1st period with both teams failing to connect on a power play opportunity. With two quick penalties in the 2nd, one coming 9 seconds in on Thomas of Mason City and the other on Wasvick at the 1:23 mark, Mason City netted the first goal of the game at the 1:59 mark. It wasn’t until late in 2nd period that the Blizzard got on the board with Parker Anthony beating Blake on a play from Matt Scribner and George Moore to tie the game at 1. The Blizzard had a late power play opportunity in the 2nd but found themselves unable to take the lead going into the 3rd period. Using his speed, Tyler Kludt was able to put the Blizzard up 2-1 at the 2:37 mark of the 3rd period on a play from Joe Gronholz with the Blizzard holding the one goal lead until the 14:03 mark when Schauer of the Toros tied it for Mason City. A mere 1:20 later, Joe Gronholz was able to beat Blake on a play from Kludt and Olson that put the Blizzard up 3-2 late in the 3rd which they were able to shut any Toro offense down in the final minutes to earn the weekend split.
The Blizzard now sit in 3rd place in the West, 2 points behind Granite City with 2 games in hand. The Blizzard face division leading Rochester in a home-and-home series this weekend. Fridays game can be seen on https://nahltv.com/ and you can grab your tickets for Saturdays game at the RCC at https://tickets.alexandriablizzard.com/ with Saturday being Diekman’s Jewelry Night.