Blizzard Pull Off Third Period Comeback, Defeat Aberdeen In Overtime
September 15, 2018 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Brookings Blizzard News Release
BROOKINGS, SD Hockey is back in Brookings and Blizzard fans were treated to a special game on Friday night.
The Brookings Blizzard played their first preseason game of the 2018-19 season on Friday night against the Aberdeen Wings at Larson Ice Center. They pulled of a strong comeback and defeated the Wings in overtime, 2-1.
The first period served as a tune-up period for both teams, looking to get their feet wet after significant time from game action. Neither team found the back of the net in the first period.
Aberdeen got the scoring started in the second period, as Peter Morgan was the recipient of a strong entry pass and snuck his wrist shot past Blizzard goalie, Alex Mosquera.
Mosquera played the first two periods and stood strong in the net, allowing just one goal.
On the other side, Connor Close for Aberdeen played a nearly flawless game. He stopped every puck that came his way, for 59 minutes. With 22 seconds left in the game, Owen Belisle flew into the corner to dig the puck free to Gabe Wahl. He then centered a pass to Dylan Schuett, who found Tom Magnavite on the back door and scored to tie the game at one.
"Owen made a really good play," said Magnavite on the goal. "It's unbelievable. I'm just more happy that we got the win. All of us were working really hard and we have a young team here. We are working on our chemistry in practice and thank God it paid off today."
The Blizzard had all the momentum going into the 3-on-3 overtime. Nearly one minute into sudden death, Kendrick Frost took the puck to the top of the face-off dot and wristed a shot over Close's glove to send Blizzard fans home on a high note.
"Kendrick is a big, strong kid," said head coach Moe Mantha. "He's a rookie right now and I think he'll get better and better and stronger and stronger. Something like that happens and you'll get more confidence. There is going to be some good things ahead for that young man."
Jack Caruso came into action in the third period and stopped all shots that came his way to come away with the victory on the stat sheet.
"The fans were really good tonight, especially for a preseason game," said Caruso. "It took a couple of minutes for me to settle in and get the nerves out. I felt really confident. Good to end on a win tonight."
The Blizzard will play one more preseason game tomorrow night in Aberdeen before heading to the Showcase in Blaine, MN next week.
"We gotta be ready (tomorrow)," said Mantha. "Aberdeen is a really tough building to play in. In the first 10 minutes, they are going come at us."
Tomorrow's game in Aberdeen will be broadcasted on Hockey TV, with puck drop set for 7:05pm at the Odde Ice Arena in Aberdeen.
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