MERMIS SCORES OVERTIME WINNER, WILD BEAT ICEHOGS 2-1
Jan 7, 2023
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wild and Rockford IceHogs went to overtime for a fourth time in five meetings Saturday evening, with the Wild taking a 2-1 victory at Wells Fargo Arena. Dakota Mermis scored the game-winner for Iowa, while Nic Petan and Marco Rossi both had two-point games.
The Wild opened the scoring at 2:51 of the first period on the power play. Petan and Joe Hicketts combined to set Rossi up in the left circle, who fired a shot through a screen to beat Mitchell Weeks (22 saves) for his fifth goal of the season.
Rockford equalized the score on the man advantage when Luke Philp tipped a shot toward the goal and Mike Hardman swept it under Jesper Wallstedt (20 saves) at 13:48 of the first period.
The teams headed into the first intermission with six shots apiece and the score tied at 1-1.
The goaltenders kept the middle frame scoreless, with Wallstedt stopping 11 shots and Weeks turning aside five. Rossi nearly added another tally two minutes into the second when he received a feed from Hicketts though the slot, but his shot was kicked away by Weeks.
After 40 minutes of play, the score was still knotted at 1-1 and the IceHogs led the shot count 15-11.
Iowa killed off a series of penalties to build momentum going into the third period. The Wild peppered Wells with shots throughout the third but could not find the back of the net and headed to overtime still tied at 1-1.
Mermis scored the game-winning goal 34 seconds into overtime. Petan fed a pass to Mermis between the circles for a wrister over Weeks to seal the Wild victory 2-1. Rossi picked up his second point of the game with a secondary assist on the play.
Iowa outshot Rockford 24-21. The Wild scored on their only power play while the IceHogs went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.
The Wild and the IceHogs meet again at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 3:00 pm.
Iowa Wild hockey is presented by MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.iowawild.com. Fans can purchase single-game tickets through the team’s website at www.iowawild.com. Group tickets (10 or more), suites, Wild memberships or premium tickets can be purchased by contacting the Iowa Wild Ticket Department at 515-564-8700 or tickets@iowawild.com. The 2022-23 season marks the 10th anniversary of Iowa Wild hockey. Fans can purchase season tickets for the 10th anniversary season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365.
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