by: Ken Oda, minotauroshockey.com
With a game last night and an eight hour bus ride to Brookings to take on the well rested Blizzard, the Tauros knew a fast start was important. A 13-7 shot advantage and a powerplay goal for Beau Ricketts had the Tauros ahead 1-0 after the first twenty minutes.
The Tauros continued to out-shoot the Blizzard early in the second before Matt Audette was given a four minute double minor and a game ejection for checking from behind. The penalty came with Brett Bukowski already in the box for cross checking, sending the Blizzard to a 5-on-3 powerplay. While the Tauros were able to kill it off, the absence of Audette would be felt the rest of the way.
Eric Brenk drew the Blizzard even at 13:41 of the second after a loose puck found its way on to his stick. Then just 1:13 into the third the Blizzard struck again to make it 2-1. The Tauros had plenty of chances in the third period including a five minute major powerplay after Matt Youso jumped Lucas Oliver. Less than a minute into the prolonged man advantage Thomas Williams, the Blizzard leading scorer stole the puck at the point and broke in on Tyler Parks to score shorthanded.
The Tauros went one for seven on the powerplay, despite having the fourth ranked man-advantage in the league coming in. The Blizzard had the third ranked powerplay, but the Tauros held them to 0-4 on the night.
Thank You: A big thank you to everyone who helped make our first road watch party of the season a big success. We will be doing another on November 9th, tickets will be available through minotauroshockey.com soon!
Next Up: The Tauros head west for rematches with Wenatchee and Fresno over the next two weekends.