Austin, MN – The Minotauros make their first trip of the season to the Spam Can in Austin, MN, for their final set of games before the Christmas break. The Tauros are 1-0-1 against the Bruins this season taking three out of four points from the Austin in Minot in late October on a shootout loss and regulation win.
Braeden Bartoo (3g 6a) was the star of the weekend for the Tauros with two goals and two assists against Austin when the Bruins came to Minot. As one would expect Tauros leading scored Nik Armstrong-Kingkade (15g 12a) was active that weekend as well with a goal and two helpers. Tauro Captain Cole O’Connell (9g 9a) also had a goal and two assists that weekend as well. In net Ben Garrity played both games posting a 3.36 GAA and .900 SV%. After Tuesday’s 5-1 loss against Aberdeen the Tauros offense has dropped to third in the league averaging 3.92 goals-per-game and the defense fell to 20th at 3.52 goals a game allowed. For the Tauros the magic number has been three goals against, when allowing three or fewer goals against the Tauros are 13-0-2, when allowing four or more goals against, they are 2-7-1.
For Austin Dante Sheriff (5g 19a) led the Bruins offense against the Tauros with four assists. Tiernan Shoudy (4g 6a) had two goals and an assist and Hugh Larkin (11g 12a) had a goal and two helpers to round out the top three. The Bruins offense ranks 17th in the league scoring 2.81 goals-per-game despite ranking eighth overall in shots-per-game at 33.27. In their own zone the Bruins also surrender 2.81 goals-per-game.
After the weekend set the Tauros get a long break for Christmas. The break ends on December 27th when the Tauros head to Bismarck to take on the Bobcats. Then it is the Cats travel Highway 83 to bring the series to Minot on December 28th.