Granite City, Rochester advance to Fraser Cup title game
Rochester forward and St. Louis native Austin Meers had two goals in a 4-1 win on Saturday to send the Grizzlies to the Fraser Cup National Championship Game.
Fraser Cup Semi-Final #1: Granite City 4 vs. Northeast 3 – The Granite City Lumberjacks never trailed and held on in a tense 3rd period as they edged the Northeast Generals 4-3 in the first of two Fraser Cup Semi-Finals on Saturday. With the win, the Lumberjacks advance to Sunday’s Fraser Cup Championship game at 3pm. It took almost the entire first team for either team to find the back of the net, but the Lumberjacks would score first as Lumberjacks defenseman Tal Halliday sent a shot to the net on a 2-on-1, which was stopped by Generals goalie Luke Fundator, but the rebound went right back to Halliday for the goal and 1-0 lead. Early in the 2nd period, the Generals equalized as Sean Gorman backhanded home his second goal of the event with a nice backhanded shot. Three minutes later, Granite City regained the lead as Brett Reed fired home a loose puck from the low slot after several saves by Fundator. Later in the period, the Lumberjacks lead swelled to 3-1 as Hayden Walters converted a wrist shot on a nice 3-on-2 play. The Generals pulled back to within a goal as Tyler Ramm converted on a rebound to make it a 3-2 game after two periods. Early in the 3rd period, the Lumberjacks went back up by two as Walters scored his second goal of the game as he converted a nice wrist shot on a 3 on 1 break. The Generals continued to fight back and cut the lead down to 4-3 as Braeden Kennedy tipped home a shot from the point. The Lumberjacks would hold the fort the rest of the game, which included 30 saves from winning goalie Quentin Sigurdson. Generals goalie Luke Fundator made 29 saves in the losing effort.
Fraser Cup Semi-Final #2: Rochester 4 vs. Helena 1 – The Rochester Grizzlies limited the Helena Bighorns to just 18 shots and broke through for four goals as they advanced to the Fraser Cup Championship Game for a second straight season by defeating Helena 4-1 in Semi-Final #2 on Saturday night. Helena struck for the lone goal of the 1st period as Liam Bland cleaned up a rebound for his 4th goal of the Fraser Cup. The rest of the period was very even, with both goalies playing well, including Helena’s Eric Buchholz, who extended his Fraser Cup shutout streak to 7 straight periods and 140 minutes without allowing a goal. Just :26 seconds into the 2nd period, that all came to an end for the Bighorns and Buchholz as Rochester finally broke through as Austin tied the game at 1-1 as Austin Meers tipped home a pass from Adam Johnson. The Grizzlies continued the momentum in the period and took their first lead of the game as a shot from Justin Wright was easily steered aside by Buchholz, but the rebound was corralled by Ben Oakland, who took a seemingly innocent wrist shot to the net, which deflected off a Bighorns player and in behind Buchholz for a 2-1 lead. The Grizzlies made it 3-1 early in the 3rd period as Layten Liffrig crashed the net on a 2-on-1 and tapped home a back door pass for his first goal of the event. The game would be put on ice late in the 3rd period as Meers would add an empty-net goal for his second goal of the game and secure the 4-1 win. Grizzlies goalie Zach Wiese made 17 saves in the win, while Buchholz would make 27 saves in his final junior game.
The stage is set for the Fraser Cup Championship Game on Sunday, March 27th as the Rochester Grizzlies will take on the Granite City Lumberjacks.
The Lumberjacks are looking for their fourth Fraser Cup National Championship, while the Grizzlies are looking for their first and are making their second straight appearance in the title game.
The Game can be seen live and in HD on HockeyTV
Admission to all Fraser Cup games is free.
For more information about the Fraser Cup, please visit: http://na3hl.com/fraser-cup/
2022 Fraser Cup Championship Schedule (all times Central)
Wednesday, March 23: Rochester Grizzlies 2 vs. Northeast Generals 5 | Helena Bighorns 2 vs. Granite City Lumberjacks 0
Thursday, March 24: Gillette Wild 2 vs. Northeast Generals 3 | El Paso Rhinos 0 vs. Granite City Lumberjacks 5
Friday, March 25: Gillette Wild 2 vs. Rochester Grizzlies 4 | El Paso Rhinos 0 vs. Helena Bighorns 4
Saturday, March 26: Northeast Generals 3 vs. Granite City Lumberjacks 4 | Helena Bighorns 1 vs. Rochester Grizzlies 4
Sunday, March 27: Championship Game, Rochester Grizzlies vs. Granite City Lumberjacks, 3pm
