Alexandria entered the weekend one point ahead of the Mason City Toros thanks to a 3 out of 4 point trip to Mason City Arena the previous weekend. This time the Blizzard welcomed the Toros to the RCC, and it was Mason City who stole the show on Friday while the Blizzard responded with a victory on Saturday.
Friday night Charlie Larson scored about midway through the 1st period off assists from Jayden Luck and Ashton Collings. After that the Blizzard continued to pepper shots on net and pressure Mason City but to no avail. The Toros scored once in the 2nd period, and once in the 3rd for a 2-1 victory. Alexandria outshot Mason City 42-24 but couldn’t get any more past Connor Graham. Kyle Abrahamson took his first loss with 22 saves.
Saturday night the Blizzard opened up strong with Joe Gronholz scoring a power play goal off a carom for his 4th of the season. Charlie Larsen and Ryan Hadland picked up the assists. Moments later Michael Debrito scored off a nice 2 on 1 pass from Ashton Collings to give the Blizzard a 2-0 lead. Jackson Eckblad picked up the 2nd assist with a nice pass to Collings to start the odd man break. The Toros tilted the ice in the 2nd scoring twice to tie the game at 2-2, but then Debrito put the Blizzard back on top. Joe Gronholz created a turnover high in the Mason City zone and then handed off the puck to Justin Wasvick which created a two on one with him and Debrito. Wasvick waited and then slid a pass across the slot for Debrito to bury his 2nd of the game. Alexandria came out with purpose in the 3rd outshooting Mason City 19-5 and scoring two more for the 5-2 victory. Gronholz and Wasvick got the late goals to put the Blizzard back in 2nd place where they started the weekend. Kyle Abrahamson collected his 4th win with 27 saves. Joe Gronolz led all scorers with 3 points and Ashton Collings, Debrito, and Wasvick each had multi-point nights.
Alexandria (6-2-0-1 – 13 pts) will hit the road this weekend taking on Willmar Friday night at 7:10 and the Minnesota Loons on Saturday at 7:30. Catch the action on Hockeytv.com