DES MOINES, Iowa – With over 9,000 fans in Wells Fargo Arena for the team’s first School Day Game since 2019, the Iowa Wild took home their first home victory of the season by a 6-3 score over the Grand Rapids Griffins. Ty Ronning netted a natural hat trick with an early goal and a pair of second period tallies 3:02 apart.
Dakota Mermis initiated the first goal of the game on the power play with a quick pass to Joseph Cramarossa, who found Ronning cross-ice outside the right circle. Ronning rifled a shot past Jussi Olkinuora (14 saves) at 4:09 of the first period for his first goal in a Wild sweater.
After 20 minutes of play, the Wild led 1-0 and held a 10-9 shot advantage over the Griffins.
The Wild doubled their lead with a nearly identical power play goal to open the second period. Ronning once again received a feed from Cramarossa in the right circle, pulled a toe drag inside the face-off dot, and fired a shot under the blocker of Olkinuora to make Iowa’s lead 2-0 at 1:15 of the second.
Off a shorthanded face-off draw just a few minutes later, Ronning completed the hat trick. Adam Beckman dropped the puck to Ronning, who launched a shot that ricocheted off Olkinuora’s knee pad and into the back of the net. The goal at 4:47 of the second period gave Ronning his first American Hockey League hat trick in his 154th AHL game.
Later in the middle frame, a failed shorthanded clearing attempt by the Wild landed on the stick of Simon Edvinsson. Edvinsson set up Hanas for a one-timer in the right circle that found its way past Zane McIntyre (23 saves), pulling Grand Rapids within two goals at 8:30 of the second period.
Iowa regained the three-goal lead three minutes later. After moving the puck out of traffic in the right circle, Sammy Walker found Beckman in the middle. Beckman went upstairs over Olkinuora to extend the Wild lead to 4-1 at 11:30 of the second and prompted Grand Rapids head coach Ben Simon to tab Victor Brattstrom (18 saves) to replace Olkinuora in the net.
At the conclusion of the second period, the Wild had stretched their lead to 4-1 and led 23-15 in shots.
In the early minutes of the third period, Andrej Šustr sent a pass to Walker in the zone to start a drive to the net. Walker dropped the puck to Mitchell Chaffee to set him up for a snipe that increased Iowa’s lead to 5-1 with 15:54 remaining in the third.
Jonatan Berggren pulled Grand Rapids within two goals with a pair of back-to-back tallies at 6:57 and 15:15 of the third. The first came on a 5-on-3 man advantage while the second came on a 5-on-4 power play.
With 2:41 remaining in the game, Simon Johansson added an insurance goal from deep in his own end to cap the scoring at 6-3.
The Wild outshot the Griffins in the final frame 15-11 and 38-26 overall. Iowa went 2-for-7 on the power play while Grand Rapids went 2-for-6 with the man advantage.
Iowa returns to Wells Fargo Arena on Friday, Nov. 4 to host the Grand Rapids Griffins at 7:00 p.m.
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