ROCHESTER, Minn. — For the second straight night, the Wisconsin Woodsmen found themselves staring at an early deficit against the Rochester Grizzlies.
Unlike Friday evening, however — when the Woodsmen responded to the Grizzlies’ early first-period goal, scoring six of the next seven goals in a 6-3 victory — this time around the Woodsmen did not have an offensive answer to the Grizzlies quick start in Saturday’s rematch.
Rochester scored the game’s first three goals, and limited the Wisconsin’s high-powered offense to just a single third-period tally, in dealing the Woodsmen a 3-1 NA3HL setback at the Rochester Rec Center.
Ole Fevold got things rolling for the Grizzlies, netting his first of the season 13 minutes into the opening frame, and Andrew Bastian added his first of the year three minutes later to give Rochester a 2-0 cushion after 20 minutes of play.
The Grizzlies pushed their lead to 3-0 on a goal by Tanner Lozano late in the first period, and were just 15 seconds away from dealing the Woodsmen a shutout loss, before Wisconsin’s Maxim Lazo found the back of the net to make the final 3-1.
Lleyton Jaschke, who stopped 36 shots in Friday’s 6-3 victory, kicked out a season-high 38 shots in Saturday’s rematch, while Rochester goalie Kyle Lappi stopped 24 of the Woodsmen’s 25 shots on goal.
The Woodsmen (1-1-0-0 overall) are back in action next weekend, when they return home to the Tomah Ice Center for a pair of NA3HL games against the Wausau Cyclones. Both games are slated for a 7:15 puck drop.
