Blaze Riorden’s OT Winner lifts Wings over Knighthawks

The Wings looked to be up to their old habits when they let a halftime lead slip away in the third quarter, but Fairport, NY native Blaze Riorden’s goal 19 seconds into overtime send the Wings home with the W.

Mitch Jones got the scoring started for the Wings in the first, and after Connor Fields answered a few minutes later, the Wings rallied off 3 goals in the final 4 minutes of the quarter. After Rochester scored 2 goals in the second, Ben McIntosh and Taite Cattoni reestablished the Wings 3 goal lead heading into halftime.

Going into the second half, the Wings offense struggled to put the ball in the net, and Rochester went on a five goal run to turn the game on its head and give Rochester an 8-6 lead. But after Ben McIntosh lasered one into the top corner 24 seconds after Rochester’s 8th goal, the offense seemed to get into more of a rhythm. Joe Resetarits tied the game at 8-8 with 6:06 in regulation, and after Trevor Baptiste won the opening faceoff in OT, Blaze Riorden scored 19 seconds into overtime to give the Wings the win.

The Wings will be taking on the Halifax Thunderbirds next week in what is surely their biggest game of the season so far. With both the Wings and Thunderbirds at 6-7 and tied for the 4th and final playoff spot in the east, Saturday’s game has major playoff implications. Buy your tickets now here.