Jason Feldman — ROCHESTER —
A first-year head coach. Two new assistants. A lineup with 13 skaters playing their first playoff game for the Rochester Grizzlies. A new year. Same result.
The Grizzlies don’t lose in the division semifinals and they rarely lose at home in the postseason.
Those trends continued Friday night in Tyler Veen’s first playoff game as a head coach. First-year Grizzlies forward Noah Joyce recorded a hat trick, veteran Spencer Klotz scored twice and first-year Grizzlies goalie Nick Kurtiak earned his first playoff win by making 22 saves.
The Grizzlies also continued their dominance this season against North American 3 Hockey League West Division rival Alexandria, scoring three times in the final 3:36 to beat the Blizzard 6-3 in Game 1 of a best-of-3 division playoff series at the Rochester Recreation Center.
“That was just playoff hockey,” said Grizzlies head coach Tyler Veen. “It’s one team pushing, then the other team pushing back.”
Game 2 is set for 7:10 p.m. Saturday in Alexandria. If the Grizzlies win, they advance to next week’s West Division Finals. If Alexandria wins, it will force a Game 3 of their semifinal series, which is set for a 3:05 p.m. start Sunday in Rochester.
Rochester has defeated Alexandria in eight of their nine meetings this season, but that didn’t matter in Friday’s game, which was a nail-biter into the final five minutes.
That’s when the Grizzlies made two big plays at a big moment in the game. With the score tied 3-3, Klotz and Lennard Habeck entered the Alexandria zone on a 2-on-1 rush. Klotz fed Habeck, who made a move on Blizzard goalie Nolan LaCosse and nearly scored on his backhand. The puck slid past LaCosse and Klotz was there to lift it high into an open net for a 4-3 lead, a goal that held up as the game winner.
On the ensuing shift, Maksim Lakic and Joyce connected for the second time in the game to extend the lead to 5-3.
“Winning this first one is huge,” said Joyce, an Oakdale native who had 13 goals and 27 points in the regular season. “Now they’re desperate and we have to go back to their barn (Saturday) and try to win another one. We knew they were back to being healthy and knew they’d be good tonight.”
Joyce added an empty-net goal with 1:12 to play. His line, with Lakic and Wyatt Witham, was a force all evening. It’s a line that was just put together in the past two or three weeks.
“I just think they all kind of bring something different,” Veen said. “Wyatt brings that scoring touch, Joycer brings a 200-foot game and so does Maksim — he’s really improved defensively.”
Veen said the line reminds him of a trio from the Grizzlies’ 2022 national championship team.
“They remind me of (Kade) Shea, Gibby (Cole Gibson) and Okie (Ben Oakland),” Veen said. “You have Joyce wearing No. 9 — Gibson’s number — he plays that style where he can provide a punch of offense, and then you have Maksim, he’s just hard to play against, he’s a man out there.”
That line’s big night gave the Grizzlies breathing room and ultimately a 1-0 series lead.
“I love that (Lakic and Witham) pretty much play just like me,” Joyce said. “Coach just wants us to play a simple game, bang bodies, get pucks deep and just keep things simple.”
After a scoreless first period, Rochester opened the scoring 3:16 into the second period when Lennard Habeck converted a rebound of a Klotz shot to make it 1-0.
Alexandria tied it 1:59 later when Joe Gronholz forced a turnover in his own zone, then outraced Grizzlies defenders into their end. Gronholz fired a shot from high in the left circle that hit the far post and rattled in to make it 1-1.
Just when it looked like the teams would take a 1-1 tie into the second intermission, Rochester’s Luke Sawicky gathered the puck in the left circle, spun and shot. LaCosse made the initial save, but lost sight of the puck at his feet and Klotz quickly knocked it in for a 2-1 lead.
The Blizzard tied it 2-2 early in the third, when the Grizzlies turned the puck over in their own end; Tyler Kludt intercepted an attempted clearing pass, then fed Gronholz who lifted a perfect backhand shot past Kurtiak just 2:35 into the final period.
The teams then traded goals in a span of 39 seconds.
Rochester regained the lead shortly after their fourth power play of the night expired. Lakic and Joyce entered the Blizzard zone 2-on-2. Lakic’s cross-ice pass was deflected by a Blizzard defender, then it bounced past LaCosse and right to Joyce, who put it in the open net for a 3-2 lead.
Alexandria answered 39 seconds later on a power play, when Matt McIntyre scored to make it 3-3.
That set up the late heroics by the Grizzlies’ Klotz and Joyce late in the third period.
And it sets up the Grizzlies to win a division semifinals series for a fifth straight season.
The Grizzlies are now 7-0 all-time at the Rec Center in division semifinal games. Rochester is now 21-10 all-time in playoff games and 10-1 overall in home playoff games in their six-season history.
“We just have to play with confidence,” Veen said of Saturday’s Game 2. “I feel like we were a little nervous tonight, but it’s good to get that first one under the belt. Now we can breathe a sigh of relief. We’ve won a playoff game. Now let’s go do it again.”