Mason City Toros vs Alexandria Blizzard
Date & Time: 10/24, 7:10 PM – 10/25, 7:10 PM
Location: Runestone Community Center
Season Series: Toros lead 2-0-0-0
Last series: The Mason City Toros hosted the Alexandria Blizzard for a two-game set at the Mason City Arena on September 19th & 20th, winning both games in regulation. San Jose, CA native Luke Gustafson made his NA3HL debut that weekend and played a great two games, scoring 3 goals and 1 assist for a 4-point weekend. Blaze Bauer, TJ Gibson and former Blizzard forward Mason Buchanan scored goals in the Friday night matchup to earn a 4-3 victory while goaltender Gavan Norton stopped 35 of 38 shots for the first win of his junior hockey career.
On Saturday, the Toros roared to a 4-0 lead early in the second period before Alexandria chipped the lead down to just 4-3 in the third period. Manhattan Beach, CA, native and former Shattuck St. Mary’s forward Christian Plaga scored his first two NA3HL goals, including a late third period tally to put the Toros up 5-3 and secure a weekend sweep.
October Roller Coaster: The Mason City Toros are 3-2-1-0 in the month of October after a commanding 4-1-1-0 record in September. Last weekend saw the Toros sweep the Minnesota Wilderness in a commanding fashion, winning 7-6 on Friday night and 7-0 on Saturday night.
Gibson’s Hot Stretch: Mason City Toros forward and Assistant Captain TJ Gibson (12GP: 8G/9A/17P) has found a remarkable offensive rhythm over the last three games. The Rochester, MN, native is riding a 3-game goal and point streak, in which he has piled up 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points. Gibson’s performance against the Wilderness this past weekend earned him the NA3HL’s Star of the Week honor, the second of the season for the Toros after Jason Williams’ (12GP: 7G/4A/11P) opening week honor.
Braving the Blizzard: Alexandria sits in 3rd place in the NA3HL’s West Division with 13 points, 3 points back of the Mason City Toros with 2 games in-hand. Alexandria has the 2nd fewest goals allowed in the Division with only 26 goals, 9 of which were scored in the September Toros series. That strong defense is due in part to the strong play of 3rd year goalie Jayden Serene. The River Falls, WI, native has been between the pipes in a division-leading 8 games while posting a .935 save percentage on a division leading 246 shots faced. Serene took the loss in the first Toros game on 9/19, stopping 26 of the 30 shots on his net.
Third year Blizzard forward Caleb Waller leads Alexandria in scoring with 8 goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 10 games.
Grady Stallman (10GP: 11G/5A/16P) leads the Blizzard in goal scoring and is tied for 12th in the NA3HL for goal scoring.