Grizzlies Dominate from Start to Finish, Win Central Division Title

Mar 20, 2022

ROCHESTER, MN- The revenge tour for the Rochester Grizzlies is not complete, but it did take a big step Sunday afternoon from the Rochester Recreation Center. After dropping game two on the road, the Grizzlies dominated from start to finish and took game three 6-1 over the Oregon Tradesmen. Rochester now advances to St. Peters, MO for the Fraser Cup Championship and will sit no higher than the three seed and no lower than the fourth seed.
The scoring started early for Rochester as Logan Kroyman beat Austin Bartell clean with a point shot after Justin Wright won a clean face-off back to Kroyman. Kade Shea then made it 2-0 Rochester at 2:26 after a great centering feed from Ben Oakland. Layten Liffrig made it 3-0 as he scored an unassisted goal at 13:15 of the first as he banged home a loose puck past Bartell. Cole Gibson continued his strong playoff performance with his seventh goal of the postseason, beating Bartell clean to the glove side, making it 4-0 just 37 seconds after Liffrig’s goal.
Lyncoln Bielenberg-Howarth finished off a nice pass from Adam Johnson and scored with a nice deke on new Tradesmen goalie Evan Wittchow at 7:47 of the second period, making it 5-0. Sam VanderHoeven tallied a power-play goal for Oregon at 11:43 to make it 5-1.
Gibson scored his eighth goal of the playoffs at 5:32 of the third, a power-play goal, to make it 6-1 for the Grizzlies. That goal also marked the third straight game Gibson has scored two goals.
Zach Wiese was strong in net tonight again, stopping 20 of the 21 shots he saw. The Grizzlies more than double up Oregon in shots, putting 48 on Bartell and Wittchow.
Rochester will now wait to see the final standings before knowing what pool it’s in for the Fraser Cup Championship. Since the Grizzlies will have either the three or four seed, they’re guaranteed to start play Wednesday. Stay tuned to the Grizzlies’ social media pages for more information about the Fraser Cup Championship schedule in the coming days.