(WAUSAU, WI)- The Wausau RiverWolves took on the Oregon Tradesmen Saturday night at Marathon Park Ice Arena in a NA3HL Central Division contest. Heading into the game Oregon led the season series three games to two after 6-1 Friday at Oregon Ice Arena. Saturday night was the RiverWolves 4th annual teddy bear toss game presented by Culvers, which benefits the Salvation Army of Wausau.
The Tradesmen were quick to score just over a minute into the first period by Sam VanderHoeven and with assists by Brent Edmundson and Gunnar Schiffman. Five minutes later Sam VanderHoeven found the back of the net once more, again with assists by Brent Edmundson and Gunnar Schiffman. A minute later though Griffin Lehet of the Wausau RiverWolves scored with an assist by Trey Bociek and Cooper Curti. If the goal was not exciting enough, the crowd was able to participate in the celebration by throwing stuffed animals on the ice as part of the RiverWolves annual teddy bear toss. At the 11:04 mark into the first Parker Severson scored the third goal for the Tradesmen with no assist. Closing out the first period, Tommy Raith of the Wausau RiverWolves scored their second goal with an assist by Pavel Bakhtin and Brady Rothe, finishing the first period with a score of 3-2 Tradesmen.
The second period had a slow start until RiverWolves forward Richard Zupan scored his first career goal with no assists, tying the game at 3. Later in the second, Sam VanderHoeven of the Oregon Tradesmen scored his third goal of the night, again with an assist from Gunnar Schiffman and Branwen Pollet. Oregon took a 4-3 lead into the third period of play.
The RiverWolves scored four minutes into the third period in thanks to Ethan Cumming and assists by Pavel Bakhtin and Nolan Gifford,tying the game again 4-4. It was not until the 8:34 mark when the Tradesmen took the lead once more with Parker Severson scoring with an assist from Jacob Best. Coming off of his assist, Jacob Best scored for the Tradesmen at the 13:39 mark into the third to put the game out of reach. Oregon added a late empty net goal, which gave them a 7-4 road win. Caleb Sauer took the loss for Wausau in net.
The RiverWolves are back home Thursday, March 4th at 7:10pm. Limited tickets are available via riverwovleshockey.com.