Preview 4-2-21

Apr 1, 2021

St. Cloud, MN – After sweeping the Austin Bruins in Minnesota last weekend the Tauros head back to The Land of 10,000 Lakes looking to get revenge on the St. Cloud Norsemen.  The Tauros last visit to St. Cloud, a month ago, saw the Tauros drop a pair of games on overtime power play goals.  Since then the Tauros have gone 5-2-0 with wins over first place Aberdeen and second place Bismarck.  Meanwhile the Norsemen have gone 2-5-0 since the weekend sweep of the Tauros including a loss Wednesday night in Cloquet, MN, against the Wilderness.

The Tauros will look for more success from Jay Buchholz’s line this weekend, he had three goals in the two games last time the Tauros visited the Norsemen and linemate Cade Stibbe chipped in another.  And while the third member of that line, Tyler Kostelecky did not score he did have two assists and has a team best 11 goals in the just 20 games played.  The Tauros goaltending tandem of Keenan Rancier and Carter Clafton has each seen time against the Norsemen posting respectable .910 and .905 SV%s respectively.

For the Norsemen when facing the Tauros at least the key is Ben Helgeson.  Helgeson has all six of his goals and two of his seven assists this season against the Tauros.  Blake Mesenburg similarly has been a Tauro killer posting five of his goals and two of his seven helpers when facing the men from Minot.  Josh Langford appears to have won the starting job in net having been the goalie of record in six of the Norsemen’s last nine games including the two overtime wins against the Tauros; the University of Maine commit has posted a .902 SV% in 10 contests since joining the Norsemen.

This weekend’s games will be on HockeyTV.com, Mixlr, Facebook, and GoTauros.com.  The Farmers Union Insurance Pregame Show will start at 6:45 for 7:00 puck drops both nights.  The Tauros will then return home to the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena to host the Aberdeen Wings on Tuesday for 2-for-1 ticket night!  Tickets for that game are available through the “Tickets” atop this page or by clicking here.