TOMAH, Wis. – Led by special teams, the Rochester Grizzlies took down the Wisconsin Woodsmen 5-2 at the Tomah Ice Center to officially secure the regular season series victory.
The start to the first period was certainly something the Grizzlies would like to erase from their memories.
Multiple turnovers in their own end and the neutral zone, and a lack of communication found them trailing early 1-0, a situation where they hold an abysmal 3-8-1-0 record this season.
Shorthanded almost immediately following the early blunder, it looked like things were going to spiral out of control, until Felix Wadstromer made a nice play along the boards to find a streaking Tevin Stukel (6), who buried on the kill to tie things at 1.
Shortly after, Rochester scored its second special teams tally of the night, as Baylor Stebbins was in the right place to bury on a second chance as the black and gold took that lead into the locker room.
The second period didn’t see the score change, but the intensity and physicality certainly ramped up.
Back and forth high-flying action with bone-crunching hits and words exchanged led into what looked to be a riveting final 20 minutes in Wisconsin.
Lleyton Jaschke was the main reason it was still a one-score game after 40 minutes, with 22 saves on 24 shots, and doing his best to shut down the Grizzlies’ top line of Ole Fevold, Mason Decker and Andrew Bastian, who were clicking all night.
Marty Raymond’s squad used that intensity to kickstart the final frame with a bang, as Stukel got his second goal of the night to make it 3-1.
The Woodsmen would score on a double-minor penalty halfway through the frame to cut the deficit in half, marking the seventh consecutive game the black and gold have surrendered a power-play marker.
Despite that blunder, the Grizzlies killed off the back-half of that penalty to finish the night 4-for-5 on the PK, backstopped by 31 saves from Cam Patrick and two late empty-net goals from Decker (27) and Nic Secen (3) would secure victory No. 18 on the year for Rochester.
These two teams meet for the eighth and final time this season next Friday at the Rec Center in the annual Blackout Game, as Rochester looks for its eighth win in the last 10 contests.