Griffin Lehet scores teddy bear toss goal
(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 win 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 Branden 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.
The RiverWolves 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 riverwolveshockey.com.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
