The OCN Blizzard sniped 2nd place in the MGEU West Division before wrapping up regular season play over the weekend.

Friday

 

Fridays game was filled with penalties  of all sorts. Over 60 minutes of play the OCN Blizzard had 113 penalty minutes while the Wolverines had 104.

 

Riley Zimmerman opened up scoring for the Blizzard almost immediately after the first faceoff, getting the puck past Marek Andres only 22 seconds into the first period. Zimmerman scored again just over 10 minutes into the first period, heading into the second with a 2-1 lead over the Wolverines.

T

he second period had the most amount of penalties throughout the game including a fight amongst friends. OCN Blizzard Ryan Monias and former Blizzard Guerin Apperly fought it out, beginning by spinning in a circle like most classic NHL fights. If that fight sounds familiar to you that's because the two also squared it off in a familiar fashion last year when Monias was with the Winkler Flyers and Apperly was with the Blizzard. In Apperly's own words in an interview with Arctic Radio Saturday "he's a fun guy to fight cause we're buddies off the ice. we both know how to put it aside for a little bit and get business done and it's pretty fun and a good environment to do it in."

 

Matthew Langdon scored early in the third, followed by a goal by Miguel Bouvier to end the night 4-2 for the Blizzard.

 

Saturday

The OCN Blizzard really pulled through on Saturday despite missing key members of the team due to suspensions from the night before. OCN Blizzard head coach Dough Johnson and  served his first of a 4 game suspensions after he was removed from the ice Friday as things got heated on both sides and given a one day game misconduct penalty. Riley Zimmerman was also out of the game due to a one game suspension from the night before.

 

Despite missing the Captain and Head Coach saying the boys pulled through would be an absolute understatement. Alex Bernauer had probably one of his best nights of hockey since joining the blizzard at the start of the year. Not only did he earn a hat trick, but it was earned in the first 11 minutes of play. The first goal was scored during a power play, followed by a regular 5 on 5 and his final goal to earn the hat trick was scored while the blizzard was short handed. Miguel Bouvier scored the 4th goal of the period with 4 minutes left to wrap things up 4-0 in the first.

A swift second period with only one penalty, which was served to the Wolverines and allowed Matthew Langdon to score the lone goal of the period.

 

Drayden Kurbatoff scored the final goal for the Blizzards regular season. Just before a complete Shutout was in sight however Andrew Boucher scored two goals in the final 5 minutes to wrap up the game 6-2 for the Blizzard. They face the Virden Oil Capitals next weekend as they begin a playoffs push.