Grizzlies Start Showcase with Dominating Win

Dec 16, 2018

BLAINE, Minn. – In their first ever visit to the North American 3 Hockey League Annual Showcase Tournament, the Rochester Grizzlies had the start they wanted. The Grizzlies dominated most of the game, finishing with a 5-1 win over the Oswego Stampede of the Northeast Division.

Liam Kelly would get the nod in goal for the Grizzlies, playing in their first of three games in the Showcase. The first period would be a bit of a feeling out process between the two teams. Lucas Newman opened the scoring at the 14:37 mark of the first after a great pass from Nic Leisen, beating Oswego goalie Ben White. Peyton  Hart would add the secondary assist.

The second period would be a different story for both teams, as  Rochester (18-6-0-0) would start off much quicker. Matt DeRosa scored his 13th of the season after a great feed from Richard Szabo, who was recently sent back down to Rochester by the Austin Bruins (NAHL). Seth Bacon added an assist on the goal. DeRosa would score again just 3:40 later after another feed from Szabo. Leisen added his second assist of the game.

Peyton Hart finished off a nice play to give Rochester a 4-0 lead at 10:13 of the second. Vladislav Sorokin and Logan Olson would get the assists. Nick Snyder buried a nice feed from Dimitri Christou to give the Stampede (11-12-1-1) their first goal of the game at 13:32.

Bacon put the nail in the coffin at 12:01 of the third, putting the Grizzlies up  5-1 and it would stay that way. DeRosa completed his solid game by picking up an assist on Bacon’s ninth of the season.

Kelly finished with 14 saves in the game and the Grizzlies’ penalty kill went 3-for-3 in the game, even killing off an abbreviated 5-on-3 chance.

The Grizzlies are back at it from Blaine tomorrow at 1pm against the New England Stars of the Coastal Division. Rochester finishes it up Tuesday at 1:30pm against the Peoria Mustangs of the Central Division.