ROCHESTER, MN – The Rochester Grizzlies will have to start a new winning streak now. After opening the season with 13 wins in a row, the Grizzlies lost to a hungry Wausau Cyclones on home ice, 4-2.
Wausau, which was rebranded in the offseason from the Wausau RiverWolves, opened the scoring on the power play at 13:41 of the first period. Luke Anderson redirected a shot past Rochester goalie Zach Wiese, as the Cyclones’ last ranked power play in the league made it 1-0 for the visitors. Luke Nemeth answered for the Grizzlies with his first career NA3HL goal just two minutes later. Matthew Shaw made a nice pass across to Nemeth who didn’t miss from the bottom of the circle.
Adam Johnson would give Rochester a 2-1 lead 5:23 into the second as his shot banked off Wausau goalie Zach Dosan and into the net. That was the only real blemish on the evening for Dosan as he stopped every shot the rest of the way. The Cyclones answered just 31 seconds later with Gage Vierzba being left wide open in front of Wiese and he roofed a shot to make it 2-2.
Dylan Chapman gave Wausau the lead for good at 12:14 of the third after pouncing on a rebound in front of the net and beating Wiese to the blocker side late in the second. That goal marked the first time the Grizzlies have not led all season at the end of two periods. Dominick Bourdon tallied an empty-net goal for the visitors.
Dosan was the story of the game, stopping 43 of 45 Grizzlies shots on net. Wiese stopped 15 of 18 Cyclones shots. Rochester now sits at 13-1-0 (26 points) and still first place in the Central Division.
The two teams will pair up again Saturday evening at 7:05 from the Rochester Recreation Center. That will be the fourth home game of eight in a row for the Grizzlies.