By: Ken Oda, minotauroshockey.com
Minot, ND – The Minotauros followed a disappointing overtime loss on Friday night with a huge win on Saturday night in front of the two largest crowds of the season. The three-point weekend pulls the Tauros within six points of first place in the rough and tumble Central Division.
Friday night the Tauros jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Fritz Belisle scored his first as a Tauro with just 1:04 remaining in the opening frame and Alex Adams netted his fifth of the season just 4:07 into the second. The Blizzard would storm back however with Cameron Teamor and Henry Enebak finding goals to force overtime and Josh Boyer tipping a shot from the point past Samu Lonkila to win it for Brookings.
After the tough loss on Friday, Saturday turned into a much-needed laugher for the Tauros and their fans. Taylor Lantz opened the scoring just 22 seconds into the game redirecting a shot from Spencer Kimball past Benjamin Beck. For Lantz it was his first goal as a Tauro. On the Lantz’s line’s next shift they scored again when Austin Koss blew a shot short-side past Beck; Lantz and Keenan Lund had the assists. Miroslav Mucha then scored his 14th of the season less than three minutes later to make it 3-0 Tauros when he tipped the puck home during a net-mouth scramble.
The offense continued into the second with Adams finding his sixth of the season with the Tauros on the power play just 43 seconds into the middle stanza. Jimmy Elser ended Jack Robbel’s shutout bid at 12:44 of the second to cut it to 4-1 Tauros but after that it was all Tauros. Grant Loven then added another power play goal for the Tauros to make it 5-1 through 40 minutes. Michael Talbot scored the Tauros third power play goal of the night in the middle of the third, it was his first of the season. Loven closed the scoring at 15:33 of the third with the Tauros fourth power play goal of the game to make it 7-1 Tauros. With a four-point night Mucha moved up to sixth in the NAHL in scoring with 25 points on 14 goals and 11 assists.
Next up for the Tauros is a run of December games entirely against either Aberdeen or Bismarck starting with two games against Aberdeen at home this weekend. Tickets are available for both games by clicking the “Tickets” tab atop this page.