RBLL-MN: Eastside holds off Lakeville 9-7

The Eastside Freeze advanced to the Minnesota regional final after a 9-7 win over the Lakeville Lumberjacks on August 17 in Hastings.

Eastside will play a best of three series against the undefeated Minneapolis Wheat Kings for a ticket to Huntington Beach, Calif., where the national championships are held.

Both teams had short benches throughout the game. The first period was balanced, both teams scored three goals apiece. Lakeville put two shots in the back of the net before the Freeze went on a quick three-goal run.

Two of those goals came from defenseman Mark Lokhorst. Grant Glazier fed Lokhorst a beautiful pass right in front of the net for the first goal. The other goal scorer in the period was Pierce Guderski, with assists from Marcus Fiori and Drew McWatters.

The Freeze came right out the gate in the second with two goals in under two minutes. Joey Mishler found the first goal and Fiori scored the second with an assist from Guderski. It wasn’t too long after when Lakeville answered back and brought the score to 5-4.

Eastside scored three more goals en route to an 8-4 lead after the second period. Mishler found his second goal of the game off the transition with assists by Jimmy Garay-Triviski and goalie Brandon Delyea. Glazier snagged the next two goals thanks to Fiori and Lokhorst.

Lakeville came out swinging in the third period and outscored the Freeze 3-1, but couldn’t knot the game up before the final buzzer. Guderski found Eastside’s lone goal early in the third before the Lumberjacks went on an uneasy three goal run to close the game out 9-7.

Delyea didn’t see as much action as he did in his 51 save game against the Minneapolis Wheat Kings on Aug. 10. However, he still posted a save percentage of 76, stopping 22 out of 29 shots. Fiori went 8 for 11 at the faceoff for the Freeze.

Eastside wrapped up its regular season with a 2-4 record and placed second in the Minnesota division. Game one against the Wheat Kings is set for Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. in Hastings.

 

FINAL:@EastsideFreeze 9⃣@LakevilleLumbe1 7⃣

Eastside Freeze (2-4) advance to the Minnesota Finals where they will face @MPLSWheatKings (6-0) in a best-of three series. #RBLLmn pic.twitter.com/HDlva396Q2

— RBLL Minnesota (@RBLLmn) August 18, 2019