WAUSAU, Wis. — It was a heartbreaking start to the NA3HL post-season for the Wisconsin
Woodsmen — leaving them behind the eight ball in their opening-round, three-game series.
The Wausau Cyclones scored a pair of goals in the first seven minutes of the third period and
held off a furious Woodsmen rally in dealing Wisconsin a 3-2 setback Friday evening at
Marathon Park
After a scoreless first period, it would be the Cyclones who would strike first on a goal by
Anderson Brien just 36 seconds into the middle frame. Braydon Buckingham pulled the
Woodsmen even with his 14th of the season with 4:31 to play, leaving the teams deadlocked
heading into the game’s final 20 minutes.
And what a 20 minutes it proved to be.
Dylan Chapman gave Wausau a 2-1 lead 3:11 into the third period, before Isaac Baker extended
that advantage to 3-1 just four minutes later. Hunter Nelson cut the deficit to one, 3-2, with his
24th of the season midway through the third — but that would be as close as the Woodsmen
would get.
Steven Kelley finished with 29 saves between the pipes for the Woodsmen, while Cyclones’
goalie Collin Lemanski kicked out 39 of Wisconsin’s 41 shots on goal.
The Woodsmen will try to pull even with the Cyclones in the team’s best-of-three series on
Saturday, hosting Wausau in a 7:30 p.m. matchup at the Tomah Ice Arena.
