Owen Van Tassel and Luke Sawicky continued their hot streaks to end the weekend for the Rochester Grizzlies. The second-year forwards tallied two goals each Sunday to help lead Rochester past the Mason City Toros 6-2.
Van Tassel’s first came at 3:07 of the first, beating Devin Peck in close to make it 1-0. At 8:31, Luke Sawicky made it 2-0 after knocking down a pass, corralling it and beating Peck from in tight. Each goal was the 16th scored this season by the respective players. Miles Berg cut the lead in half for Mason City with a nice effort, beating Nick Kurtiak high to the blocker side.
Rochester picked it up in the second period. Duke Boccardi, after having several good chances earlier in the game, finally found the back of the net after finishing off a great cross-ice pass from Ty Petzke. Boccardi went high glove over a sprawling Peck to make it 3-1. Van Tassel’s second of the game was in a similar spot of Boccardi’s goal, as Van Tassel went bar down for his 17th of the season. That goal gave him the team lead. Jax Schauer scored a shorthanded goal for the visitors to cut the lead to 4-2 late in the second.
Sawicky’s second came in the third period as he finished off a nice pass from Noah Joyce for his 17th of the season. Both Sawicky and Van Tassel went into Friday’s game with 15 goals apiece. Cael Knutson got in on the action, scoring his first career NA3HL goal with just 10 seconds left in the third.
Rochester is now 6-0 against Mason City this season with a chance to sweep the home portion of the season series this upcoming Saturday. The Grizzlies now sit at 56 points with a record of 26-4-2.
Next weekend the Grizzlies continue their homestand welcoming Willmar and Mason City back to Rochester, while also looking to build on their division point lead!