For Wausau Pilot & Review
WAUSAU – The Wausau Cyclones junior hockey team took on the Wisconsin Woodsmen on Friday and Saturday night at Marathon Park, earning a sweep to extend its winning streak to 10.
Wausau won 6-2 Friday and won 5-3 on Saturday night to improve their season record to 18-5-0-0. The series sweep moves the Cyclones to within three points of first place in the Central Division of the NA3HL. Wausau has now won 16 of its last 18 games after starting the season with 2-3.
Friday night’s contest started a bit slow for Wausau as Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead after the first period thanks to a goal from Jackson Heim.
Wausau came back strong in the second with goals from Brandon Piwko and Anderson Brien, which gave the Clones a 2-1 lead after two.
The final 20 minutes saw Wausau pull away as Gabe Randel netted his team-leading 14th and 15th goals of the season. Connor Dvorak and Jack Dawley both joined the fun in the third. Collin Lemanski was solid in net again after stopping 27 of 29 shots to earn his league-leading 13th win of the season.
On Saturday night, Wausau looked to sweep the Woodsmen and extend their win streak to ten games. The first period saw forward Dvorak get things started with his 12th goal of the season to give Wausau a 1-0 lead after the first and the goal made it rain teddy bears for the Cyclones annual Teddy Bear Toss.
The second period saw Wausau open things up a bit as forward Antonio Gomez scored his 11th and 12th goals of the season, and Brien net his ninth, which was assisted by John Kriz and Isaac Baker. Heim was able to keep Wisconsin within striking distance as he netted the Woodsmen only goals of the second frame.
In the third period, Gomez put an exclamation point on the night as he completed the hat trick at 2:12. Goalie Brady Faille earned the win after stopping 40 of 43 shots.
Watch the Wausau Cyclones in action this Friday, Dec. 15, against the Woodsmen again at Marathon Park as the first 250 fans receive a Cyclones flannel pom beanie presented by Bantr! Puck drops at 7:10 p.m. and doors open at 6:30 p.m. Visit wausaucyclones.com for tickets today.
Wausau then travels to the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn., to play games Sunday, Monday and Tuesday against Gillette, Norwich and Alexandria.
The Cyclones are members of the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL), one of three USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior leagues, serves as one of the top training grounds in the country by providing the best coaching, exposure and developmental vehicles available for student-athletes in its classification. The primary mission of the NA3HL is to provide a structured developmental environment for student-athletes who have aspirations of playing in the NAHL or United States Hockey League and eventually the NCAA or American College Hockey Association. For more information, visit wausaucyclones.com.
