The West Bend Power traveled to Peoria, Illinois, for their first matchup of the season against the Peoria Mustangs, coming away with a weekend sweep. The Power secured a 6-3 victory on Friday before completing the sweep with a 4-0 shutout win on Saturday.
Friday: Power 6, Mustangs 3
The Power opened the scoring at 18:28 of the first period when Brandon Behnke netted his first goal as a member of the Power, assisted by Elias Holan (1) and Luca Doremus (1). Evan Burchardt added his first goal of the season at 17:29, with assists from Rhett Mizwicki (1) and Cole Craft (1), giving West Bend a 2-0 lead after the opening period.
Ivan Schmitz took over in the second period, completing a hat trick. His first goal came at 17:13, assisted by Shaun Paulson (10) and Brandon Behnke (1). Schmitz scored again at 16:04, with assists from Shaun Paulson (2) and Wyatt Church (1). He completed the hat trick at 3:42, assisted by Nathan Antti (3) and Blake Kohnen (1).
Peoria’s Grant Hubert scored in the second period, but the Power carried a 5-1 lead into the third.
The Mustangs scored twice in the final period to cut into the Power’s lead, but West Bend sealed the victory with an empty-net goal from Shaun Paulson with 1:15 remaining. Ivan Schmitz earned the assist.
Power goaltender Robin Sejba recorded his first win in the Power net, stopping 18 of 21 shots. West Bend finished the game with 34 shots on goal.
Saturday: Power 4, Mustangs 0
Adam Sexton opened the scoring at 18:27 of the first period, assisted by Zach Halling (1), giving the Power an early lead. Otis Berge added his first goal of the season at 11:26, with assists from Josh Graves (2) and Ares Borkenstein (1), extending the Power’s lead to 2-0 after one period.
Zach Halling scored a shorthanded goal at 10:25 of the second period, assisted by Adam Sexton (2). Just over two minutes later, Shaun Paulson added his second goal of the season, assisted by Josh Graves (3) and Armani Fisher (1), giving West Bend a 4-0 advantage after two periods.
Neither team found the back of the net in the third period, as the Power secured the shutout victory.
Power goaltender Jacob Iallanardo stopped all 31 shots faced from the Mustangs. West Bend recorded 47 shots on goal in the win.
The Culligan Water of West Bend Power Player of the Weekend is Ivan Schmitz Schmitz’s three-goal performance on Friday powered the West Bend offense and helped lead the team to a weekend sweep in Peoria.
Up Next
The West Bend Power travels to Rochester, Minnesota, to face the Rochester Grizzlies in a two-game series at the Rochester Recreation Center.
- Friday: 7:00 PM
- Saturday: 6:00 PM
- Location: Rochester Recreation Center
- Broadcast: Both games will be available on NATV