Blizzard hockey: Alexandria splits

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The Alexandria Blizzard will host its final home game of the regular season tonight, Friday, after splitting two games this past weekend against Granite City and Twin City.

Alexandria fell to 0-6 on the season against the defending champs as the Lumberjacks handed the Blizzard a 3-1 loss on Saturday night. Scott Murray was a wall in net for Granite City as he turned aside 50 shots to pick up the win for his team.

The Blizzard didn’t help itself by spending a lot of time in the penalty box. Alexandria was penalized 80 minutes on 12 infractions, compared to 33 minutes on six infractions for Granite City. That ultimately led to a Granite City win as the Lumberjacks converted two power-play opportunities in the first period.

That allowed them to build an early lead and never look back. Granite City led 3-0 after one and held on despite 31 shots for Alexandria over the final two periods. Nate Mettenburg scored the Blizzard’s only goal at 17:09 in the final frame off assists from Ian Ecklund and Karson Kuntz.

Alexandria found the net a lot more often in a 5-2 win over Twin City the night before. Ricky Seidel, Mick Dhein, Garrett Skinner, Richie Brown and Chayce Coenen all scored to help their team secure the win.

Kyle Miller got the win in net, turning aside 29 of the 31 shots he faced.

The loss to Granite City put the Blizzard six points back from the Lumberjacks for second place in the West Division. Alexandria will host Twin City again tonight at 6 p.m. The Blizzard will then go on the road for three games at the showcase tournament in Troy, Michigan before closing out the regular season with five straight road games.

GAME SUMMARY

GRANITE CITY 3 0 0 – 3

ALEXANDRIA 0 0 1 – 1

SHOTS – Granite City – 10, 17, 14 – 41; Alexandria – 14, 13, 23 – 51

Scoring

FIRST PERIOD – Granite City – Alex Koopmeiners (unassisted), 9:23; Granite City – Aidan Verbeke (PPG) (Mitchell Gwost, Eric Miller), 12:33; Granite City – Blayne Ellson (PPG) (Drew Otto), Mitch Humphries), 17:50

SECOND PERIOD – No scoring

THIRD PERIOD – Alexandria – Nate Mettenburg (Ecklund, Karson Kuntz), 17:09

GOALTENDING – Granite City – Murray – W, 50 saves, 51 shots; Alexandria – Miller – L, 38 saves, 41 shots

TWIN CITY 1 0 1 – 2

ALEXANDRIA 1 3 1 – 5

SHOTS – Twin City – 11, 10, 10 – 31; Alexandria – 13, 13, 8 – 34

Scoring

FIRST PERIOD – Alexandria – Seidel (Sergey Erileev, Tanner Duffney), 11:33; Twin City – Ryan McAloon (shorthanded) (unassisted), 16:01

SECOND PERIOD – Alexandria – Dhein (Danny Pelzer, Drake Hunter), 9:02; Alexandria – Skinner (Richie Brown, Ecklund), 9:25; Alexandria – Brown (Seidel, Kyle Kuntz), 10:48

THIRD PERIOD – Twin City – Marvin Powell (Shane Hill, Calvin Miska), 1:05; Alexandria – Coenen (Skinner, Ecklund), 18:41

GOALTENDING – Twin City – Sawyer Marshall – L, 18 saves, 22 shots, 30:48; Parker Butler – 11 saves, 12 shots, 29:12

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, blizzard, hockey, na3hl