Minot, ND – The Minotauros opened the season with eight straight games on the road and posted a more than respectable 5-1-2 record to open the season away from the Maysa but the group is excited to return to their home rink for the first time since the preseason’s opening weekend. The opposing Aberdeen Wings will also be happy to return the Maysa as it will undoubtably bring back memories of last spring when the Wings won the Central Cup in Minot to advance to the Robertson Cup which they eventually won.
Just six players return for the Wings from their championship team and their start to the season has been a rocky one. With a 2-2-4 record the Wings have been in just about every game they have played but have come out on the wrong end of overtime and shootouts. Jakob Breault (2g 5a) leads the Wings with seven points . Aside from Breault only Natan Vertes (5g 1a) and Riley Murphy (4g 1a) have multiple goals on the season, the trio’s combined 11 goals account for more than half of the Wings offense so far this season. The result is the Wings averaging just 2.50 goals per game to rank 16th in the league.
The Tauros offense meanwhile ranks eighth in the NAHL posting 3.50 goals per game. Nik Armstrong-Kingkade (5g 4a) has paced the Tauro offense with nine points. A pair of defensemen Sam Skinner (2g 6a) and Owen Baumgartner (1g 6a) are next along with forward Jay Buchholz (1g 6a). Ville Immonen (4g 2a) and Cole O’Connell (4g 1a) each have four goals, Kevin Ness (3g 3a) has three, and Cade Stibbe (1g 5a) has posted six points in just four games since joining the Tauros.
Ben Garrity is off to a 4-0-1 start on the season posting a .915 SV% and 2.38 GAA, when healthy he will carry the lion’s share of the load in net for the Tauros. Aberdeen meanwhile is relying on a split early in the season between Henry Welsch (0-1-3 2.45gaa .921sv%) and former Tauro Jake Sibell (2-1-1 2.71gaa .918sv%). The Tauros defense has been better at limiting shots against, allowing 29.75 compared to 32.25 for Aberdeen but both rank in the bottom half of the league 14th and 21st respectively.
Tickets: Tickets for both games are still available by clicking here or on the “Tickets” tab atop this page.
Watch and Listen: Both games will be on live on www.HockeyTV.com and on the “Listen Live” tab atop this page. Saturday’s game will be on AM 1390 KRRZ.