Wausau, WI – The Wausau Cyclones took on the Oregon Tradesmen over the weekend as the Cyclones looked to extend their points lead over Milwaukee for a playoff spot. Wausau picked up a 4-3 overtime win on Friday and fell 4-0 on the home ice Saturday, which moved their season record to (16-18-1-1). After earning 2 of 4 points possible on the weekend combined with a pair of Milwaukee losses Wausau now has a ten-point lead for the final playoff spot with just 11 games remaining.
Friday night Oregon jumped on Wausau first with a pair of goals by Tyler Steuck at 11:34 and 16:02 of the first period. The Cyclones answered with a familiar goal scorer in Gage Vierzba at 18:12 of the first. Wausau tied the contest at two at 4:28 of the second period after forward Bowen Arola scored his second goal of the season. Arola’s goal was assisted by Pavel Bakhtin. After two periods of play the game was tied at two goals apiece. Bakhtin gave Wausau a third period lead at 5:02, but Oregon answered back late in the third period to send the game into overtime. In the extra session forward Nolan Gifford scored the game winner at 3:15, which gave Wausau a huge boost to their playoff chances.
Saturday’s match up on the home ice proved to be a struggle all night. Wausau was unable to get anything past Tradesmen goalie Fred Roufs who stopped all 20 shots he faced. It was just the third game all season that the Cyclones were shutout. Oregon got goals from Sam VanderHoven (2), Cart Stobb and Dillon Schmidt. Zach Dosan took the loss in net for Wausau.
Catch the Cyclones back on the home ice this Friday and Saturday at 7:10pm. Stay connected this season by following the Cyclones @wausaucyclones on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and online at wausaucyclones.com. Subscribe to the Cyclones podcast “Inside Cyclones Hockey”, available on your favorite podcast network.
The Cyclones are members of the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL), one of three USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior leagues, serves as one of the top training grounds in the country by providing the best coaching, exposure and developmental vehicles available for student-athletes in its classification. The primary mission of the NA3HL is to provide a structured developmental environment for student-athletes who have aspirations of playing in the NAHL or United States Hockey League and eventually the NCAA or American College Hockey Association. For more information, visit wausaucyclones.com.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
