The Alexandria Blizzard has swept the Granite City Lumberjacks in the Division Finals and has claimed the #1 seed in the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament.
Friday night in Game 1 the Blizzard went into the Lumberjacks home and beat them 4-2 fueled by 3 power play goals and one shorthanded goal. Trailing late in the 1st period the Blizzard got a two-man advantage and almost let it slip away, that is until Jack Whitmore sniped home a wrist shot with :01 on the clock. Alexandria was awarded another two-man advantage midway through the 2nd period when Jameson O’Flynn blasted home a one-timer for a 2-0 lead. Moments later Whitmore scored again for a 3-1 lead. Granite City cut the lead to 3-2, before Sean Kenny broke free shorthanded and beat Ryan Lehet over the glove for a 4-2 lead after two. Konrad Kausch and the Blizzard stood strong in the 3rd not allowing the Lumberjacks to get any closer. O’Flynn led all scorers with a goal and 2 assists. Whitmore had 2 goals, and Joe Gronholz had 2 assists. Hayden Demars, Michael DeBrito, Matt Scribner, and Calvin Knight each chipped in assists while Kausch picked up his 3rd playoff win with 32 saves.
Saturday night in Game 2 the Blizzard did not disappoint in front of a packed RCC Alexandria closed out the Lumberjacks in a 3-2 thriller. Alexandria struck first when Matt McIntyre took a pass from Josh Kingery and broke in down the right side of the slot beating Paul Cassin with a wrist-shot for a 1-0 lead midway through the 1st period. Alexandria’s Joe Gronholz set up Jack Whitmore in front for a 2-0 lead two minutes into the 2nd period. Hayden Demars also assisted starting the 3 on 2 with a cross ice pass to Gronholz. A couple minutes later Ryan Hadland took the puck off the half wall and broke free towards the net deking out Cassin for a 3-0 lead five minutes into the 2nd period. After that the scoring dried up for the Blizzard and Granite City began to chip away pulling to within a goal late in the 3rd, but with the extra attacker on the ice, the Blizzard defense and Konrad Kausch prevailed claiming their 1st Western Division Playoff Championship. Kausch picked up his 4th win with in the playoffs with 29 saves.
Alexandria is on to the Fraser Cup Championship in St. Peter, MO. They are the top seed in Pool A and will play the Texas Brahmas on Wednesday at 4 pm. Game 2 will be against the #6 seed Granite City on Thursday at 4 pm. If they advance to the Semi Finals on Saturday they will play at either 4 or 7 pm with a shot the at the Championship game on Sunday the 26th at 3 pm. Pool B consists of Oregon, Helena, and Northeast.
Hockeytv.com has all the coverage.