The North Iowa Bulls came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the Alexandria Blizzard, but did just enough to escape with a 6-4 victory.
North Iowa led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Bulls\’ Joe Burgmeier scored at 6:09 in the second period to put North Iowa up 4-1.
Trey Gardner had two goals to lead the Bulls to victory. Gardner scored at 2:20 into the first period to make the score 1-0 North Iowa and again while 17:52 into the third to make the score 5-4 North Iowa.
North Iowa\’s offense rang up 43 shots on Alexandria\’s net.
North Iowa also got points from Conor Durgan, who also racked up one goal and two assists and Brett Gravelle, who also had one goal and two assists. In addition, North Iowa received assists from Johnny Panvica, who had three and Jake Mullendore, Sam Naegele, and Jack Stang, who contributed one each.
The Blizzard forced Bulls\’ netminders to work between the pipes, getting 32 shots and forcing 28 saves. David Johnson made 15 stops and Chris Amsden made 13. Alexandria stifled the Bulls\’ power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man.
The Blizzard were helped by Bo Gronseth, who tallied two goals. Gronseth scored the first of his two goals at 4:42 into the first period to make the score 1-1. Tommy Hall picked up the assist. Gronseth\’s next tally made the score 4-4 with 18:19 left in the third period. Hall provided the assist. Alexandria additionally got points from Logan Norman, who also grabbed one goal and one assist and David Becker, who also finished with one goal and one assist. More assists for Alexandria came via Tom Schmidt, who had two and Austin Kilian and Evan Bisek, who each chipped in one.
North Iowa incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors. Bisek rejected 37 shots on goal for Alexandria. The Blizzard incurred eight minutes in penalty time with four minors.