MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The season opener is a distant memory right now. After dropping the first contest between the two teams two weeks ago, the Rochester Grizzlies got revenge by dominating the Milwaukee Power, 6-1 on the road.
Much like the first meeting, Rochester (4-1-0-0, 8 points) would strike first in this game. Rookie Ethan Noonan scored his first goal in the North American 3 Hockey League, beating Power goalie Ty Barnhill. The puck was collected afterwards to commemorate Noonan’s first goal. Peyton Hart and Garrett Smith picked up the assists on the goal, coming at 5:36 of the first. Porter Haney scored his second goal of the season at 9:54, giving Rochester a 2-0 lead. Joey Fodstad and newcomer Devin Hays had the assists.
Unlike last game these two teams met, Rochester never looked back in this one and never lost the lead.
Lucas Newman scored just 40 seconds into the second period, his third of the season, increasing the Grizzlies lead to three and chasing Power starter Barnhill. Nic Leisen and Jesper Hofling assisted on Newman’s goal. Later in the second period, Joey Fodstad continued his hot streak by tallying his seventh goal of the season. Fodstad now has all of his goals coming in the past three games. Haney and Andrejs Bogdanovs assisted on the fourth goal.
Rochester poured it on in the third as Peyton Hart extended the lead to five just 3:30 into the third. Noonan picked up his second point of the night by picking up an assist, as did Smith. The Power would get a power play goal from Nathan Walker at the six minute mark, but that’s all they would get past Rochester goalie Shane Soderwall. Smith extended Rochester’s lead back to a five goals, as he scored his first career NA3HL goal to make it 6-1.
The Grizzlies would go on to out-shoot Milwaukee 56-24, a much larger shot deficit compared to the first game when Rochester would out-shoot Milwaukee 52-34. Soderwall picked up his third win of the season, stopping 23 of the 24 shots he saw. Hart and Smith would each finish with a goal and two assists.
Rochester and Milwaukee are back at it Saturday from Milwaukee at 8pm. The game can be found on Hockey TV. The Grizzlies are back home October 4th and 5th taking on the Coulee Region Chill with a 7pm puck drop both nights.