Minot, ND – The Minotauros handed the Aberdeen Wings just their third regulation loss of the season with an impressive 3-0 showing on the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena on Tuesday nights. The Tauros skated with the presumptive NAHL Central champs and won the special teams battle en route to the victory.
Ethan Schmunk opened the scoring 9:10 into the game one-timing a Brett Roloson pass through reigning NAHL Goaltender of the Month Jake Sibell to give the Tauros a 1-0 lead. Logan Anderson picked up an assist as well freeing up the puck in the corner, it was the fifth goal scored by that line in three games.
The second period passed with no scoring thanks in large part to the Tauros penalty kill which killed a long five-on-three advantage for the Wings. Then just 1:35 into the third Cade Stibbe found a rebound in the slot and scored his 10th of the season to double the Tauro lead. Then, halfway through the period, a bad kneeing penalty by Natan Vertes on Christian “Bubba” Kadolph sent Kadolph to the training room and the Tauros to a five minute power play. Tauro captain Jack Westlund scored on the ensuing power play to all but ice the game away.
From there Carter Clafton did the rest stopping each comeback attempt by the Wings. In total the rookie goaltender stopped 36 Aberdeen shots in shutting out the league’s top offense for his first junior hockey clean sheet.
Next up the Tauros head on the road for a three game weekend starting with two games in Cloquet, MN, against the Minnesota Wilderness followed by a Sunday tilt in St. Cloud. The Minotauros Booster Club will be hosting a roadwatch party at Sleep Inn for Saturday’s game; all three games will be on the Minotauros Network, HockeyTV, Mixlr, Facebook Live, and gotauros.com/listenlive. After that the Tauros will return to the Maysa Arena on April 16th and 17th to host the Austin Bruins. Tickets for the home games are available through the “Tickets” tab atop this page.