ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Rochester Grizzlies just keep on rolling. Joey Fodstad scored three goals and Vladislav Sorokin added two to help lead the Rochester Grizzlies to a 6-4 home victory over the New Ulm Steel. The win makes it nine in a row for Rochester.
The Grizzlies (9-1-0-0 18pts) and Steel had a bit of a feeling out process in the first few minutes of the first period, with the Steel having the only shot on net in the first four minutes. Fodstad would score his first of the night at the 10:25 mark of the first, with Peyton Hart picking up the lone assist.
Rochester would rattle off three more goals in a span of six minutes. Fodstad would score off a great feed from Bradley Postula at the 13:57 mark. Sorokin would get his team-leading 11th goal of the season and Fodstad would complete the hat trick just a minute later.
“I was having a rough stretch of games. Getting the elephant off my back and starting to score, it’s bringing my confidence up. Our team, we find ways to win. That’s what matters at the end of the day,” Fodstad said.
The second period would yield a different result for the Grizzlies. New Ulm would get its first of the game at the 2:32 mark as James Spaargaren would stop the bleeding for the Steel. Sam Ayd would fire home a power play goal from the point just six minutes later, cutting the Grizzlies lead in half. Rochester would also fail to score on a two minute 5-on-3 power play.
“It’s the same story. We get individual, we get away from our structure…we have to lose those lapses in games,” Grizzlies head coach Casey Mignone said.
Spaargaren would cut it to a 4-3 game just 1:40 into the first period, giving some much needed life to the Steel. Brock Hildenbrand would give the two-goal lead back to Rochester, scoring not too long after the end of a power play for Rochester.
Sorokin would score his second of the game at 13:52 of the third, putting Rochester up by three before Jarrett Cammarata added a late goal for New Ulm.
Nick Bucklin would continue his personal unbeaten streak, picking up the win in net for Rochester and stopping 24 of 28 shots.
“[Coach Mignone] after the second told us to get our act together and don’t give up because the game is not over. We knew they were going to go really hard. We just had to keep playing and finish the game,” Sorokin said.
The Grizzlies have found different ways to win games during the streak.
“Seasons are up and down always. It’s good to not play your best and win, like we did on Saturday night last week…it’s always great if you can find a way to win. You don’t really care how you do it. We’d like to be a little cleaner with it. At the end of the day a win is a win and it’s nice to keep stacking them up,” Mignone said.
Rochester and New Ulm are back at it Saturday in New Ulm with a 7:10 start time. The next Grizzlies home game is next Saturday at 7:05 against the Alexandria Blizzard.