Blaine, MN – The Minotauros hot start continued at the NAHL Showcase as they knocked off the Corpus Christi Ice Rays in another back-and-forth affair in front of a standing room only crowd on Friday night. The win moves the Tauros to 3-0-0 at the Showcase making them one of five undefeated teams at the season kickoff event.
Just as the previous two games the Tauros opened the scoring but unlike the previous games the goal came in the first period. Jack Gardner scored his first as a Tauro 8:51 in with help from Colby Bear and Weston Knox. The Ice Rays bounced back however with two goals late in the period from Cody Kempf and Arvid Broback.
The second period started with a delay after the Zamboni broke a piece of the kickplate off of the boards. Once the repairs were complete play restarted but was soon delayed again after Chad Muller hit Wolfgang Govedaris just 1:44 into the period. Govedaris stayed down and required medical attention leading to another 15 minute delay during which the teams were sent to their locker rooms. Once they returned to the ice the Ice Rays extended their lead just 33 seconds after the restart Nils Forselius scored on a long shot to push the Corpus lead to 3-1.
The Tauros wasted little time clawing back however with Will Dawson scoring his first as a Tauro 37 seconds later. Muller and Nick Sewecke would add two more in the later half of the period turning a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead heading into the third.
With a new Zamboni driver the boards remained unscathed and the third period began as scheduled. The Ice Rays pushed hard to draw even outshooting the Tauros 11-6 over the final 20 minutes but James Norton and the Tauro defense stood tall in protecting the lead.
Next up the Tauros take on the Wisconsin Windigo on the final day of the NAHL Showcase. The Windigo are 2-1-0 in Blaine. The games can be seen NAHLtv via pay-per-view video or listened to for free via Mixlr in the Tauros Hockey mobile app for Apple and Android.