City Times Staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS — The Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings find themselves only two points away from taking over second place in the Midwest West division, after this weekend’s sweep of the Minnesota Blue Ox.

In front of a rowdy crowd, the Riverkings skated to a 5-2 victory on Friday night. They got on the board first as Matyas Kacirek lit the lamp off of feeds from Ryan Mantz and Brooks Hatfield. A little over four minutes later Kyle McCauley put the Riverkings up 2-0 as Richard Young, and Jesse Edwards picked up the helpers.

The Blue Ox would respond to make it 2-1 heading into the first intermission. The second period saw Adam Peterson put the Riverkings up 3-1 as Brett Delaat and Jacob Gaydos where credited with the assists. Just over a minute later, and on the Power-Play, Alexander Mavrogiannis lit the lamp with Mantz and Tommy McManus getting the helpers to make it 4-1 in favor of the home team. Late in the second period the Blue Ox would cut the Riverkings lead to 4-2 heading in the third period.

The third period began with Kyle McCauley picking up his second goal of the game with Raymond Fleming and McManus picking up the assists making the score 5-2 to finish. Goaltender Eric Schuette picked up the win in the crease recording 21 saves on the night. The Riverkings Power-Play went 1-2 on the night and the Penalty-Kill unit went perfect on all three kills for  the night.

B. Violet Photography.

On Saturday night, the Riverkings completed the weekend sweep of the Minnesota Blue Ox by picking up a 7-4 win Saturday night at the South Wood County Recreation Center.

The opening period saw both teams exchange chances and both goalies shutting the door for the first 18 minutes. Matyas Kacirek put the Riverkings on the board with a minute left in the period with Brooks Hatfield and Ryan Mantz picking up the assists, as the game headed into its first intermission.

The second period began with the Blue Ox evening up the score at 1-1 early in the period. Adam Peterson put the Riverkings up 2-1 a little under a minute later with Austyn Quarters and Xander Mavrogiannis grabbing the helpers. The Blue Ox would strike on the Power-Play to even the score at 2-2. Richard Young lit the lamp to give the Riverkings a 3-2 lead with Kyle McCauley and Jesse Edwards picking up the assists. Two minutes later on the Power-Play Kacirek would net his second goal of the game to make it 4-2 Riverkings. Late in the second period the Blue Ox would convert on a penalty-shot to make it 4-3 Riverkings heading into the third period.

The Riverkings came out firing in the third, as Austyn Quarters found the back of the net on the Power-Play off of feeds from Raymond Fleming and Mavrogiannis to give the Riverkings a 5-3 lead. A few minutes later the Blue Ox would strike to cut the Riverkings lead to 5-4. From then on the Riverkings goalie Erik Schuette would shut the door.

The Riverkings would add two more goals as Jesse Edwards would make it 6-4, and Cole Creger added an empty netter to finish the scoring to make it a 7-4 final. Schuette picked up the win in the crease recording 28 saves.

With the win the Riverkings run their record to 28-9-1 on the year. The Riverkings have a short turnaround as they will return to action Monday and Tuesday, as they travel to Forest Lake, Minn. to take on the Minnesota Mullets.

Weather issues prevented the Riverkings from traveling to Boston for the USPHL Wintershowcase so these are two make up contests. Puck drops Monday at 2:00PM and Tuesdaypuck drop will be at 12:00 PM.