By Andrew Lennox www.minotauroshockey.com
MINOT, ND – The Minot Mintorauros hosted a rare Tuesday night tilt one point away from clinching a Robertson Cup playoff spot for a second consecutive season. In-state rival the Bismarck Bobcats hoped to delay the Tauros victory party winning three of four contests going into Tuesday night.
Coming out of a media timeout, Minot grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the first frame. Will Dawson netted his 13th marker as he picked up the puck at the top of the circles after an offensive zone faceoff. He then fired a shot that beat Bobcat’s netminder, Klayton Knapp.
Minot would strike again 4:26 into the second period when Colby Bear scored his ninth tally on a beautiful backhand wrap-around. For Bear the Peguis, Manitoba native, it was his third goal in three games. Ian Spencer and Jake Gardner logged the assists. Bismarck would split the lead in half with 2:05 left as a Tauros defensive zone turnover led to Bobcats Tamas Toth sniping from the top of the circles, beating Tauros goalie Brady James’ top corner on his glove side.
During the final twenty minutes of regulation, both teams combined for just 11 shots on goal. There wasn’t a goal registered in the third until a seeing-eye shot from the point off the stick of Bismarck’s Matthew Rafalski slipped by James with 12 seconds left to send the game to overtime. Despite the Bobcats scoring a late goal and forcing overtime, Minot still earned the one point needed to qualify for the playoffs.
In overtime, the Tauros were granted their first power play of the evening. Still, they could not capitalize on the opportunity, sending the game to a shootout to decide a winner.
After five shootout rounds, defenseman Colby Woogk scored, giving Minot the 3-2 victory.
Next, the Tauros head to North Iowa, followed by an off weekend and then a trip to Austin. The Tauros return to the Maysa to host the St. Cloud Norsemen on March 29th and 30th. Tickets for those and all remaining home games are available in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App, through the “Tickets” tab atop this page, or by visiting the Tauros ticketing site.