ROCHESTER, Minn. – After winning the Central Division regular season title last night, the Rochester Grizzlies did not want to let up in Saturdays’ game against Milwaukee. With five goals in the first period, the Grizzlies cruised to a big 7-1 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Power, sweeping the season series by winning all eight games.
After not scoring in the first period in yesterday’s game, Rochester started strong this time. Just 2:41 into the game, Dylan Schneider scored his 16th of the season on the short side, beating Power goalie Cole Shane. Garrett Smith and Hunter Wilmes assisted on the Schneider goal. Less than a minute later, Matt DeRosa 2-0 with his 20th of the season with Peyton Hart and Blake Arneson assisting on the goal. DeRosa’s goal tied him with Hart for most on the team. The Power would make it a one-goal game as Mason Proskin pounced on a loose puck and beat Shane Soderwall high to the glove side. Rochester would tack on three more goals in the first, as Fodstad, Alex Villa and DeRosa found the back of the net for the Grizzlies.
The second period would yield no goals for either team. The Grizzlies would clamp it down defensively, however, holding Milwaukee to just four shots in the period while putting up 17 of their own. Ewan McDevitt came in for Cole Shane at the start of the second period after making 50 plus saves in Friday’s loss for the Power.
Rochester would add on two more in the third period with Villa and DeRosa adding some for good measure. Villa’s goal came at 2:51 of the first and marked his first career multi-goal game in the NA3HL. DeRosa’s goal coming at 18:20 would give him the hat trick and he now has the team lead in goals with 22 on the season. DeRosa finishes the weekend with five goals and two assists in two games.
The Grizzlies (32-5-0-1, 65 points) complete the regular season next week with a Thursday and Friday home game against the Wausau RiverWolves. Both games start at 7:05 PM as they are make-up games of ones previously postponed from early January.