Minot, N.D. – To say the Minot Minotauros have been on fire would be an understatement. As the Tauros get ready for the final weekend of November, they hope to remain on the same path they have all month long. The team has won six games in a row, the longest active streak in the NAHL, and they enter the week with a perfect 6-0 record in November. With the opportunity to put a bow on a remarkable month, the schedule will be busy.
Starting on Wednesday, the Tauros will take a trip south of town to face their in-state rivals in the Bismarck Bobcats at 7:15 p.m. Although the teams are closest to each other in regard to distance, they haven’t met much this year. Wednesday night will mark just the second time these teams have played this year, with the Bobcats prevailing in a 5-4 overtime win last time out.
That, however, is just the beginning of an action-packed weekend, as the Tauros will turnaround and host the Aberdeen Wings on Friday and Saturday at 7:35 p.m. at the Pepsi Rink. This will be the second time the Tauros and Wings take the ice for a series this month, which is the most common opponent for both teams, as they began the month on the ice together and are now doing the same to close it out.
Hoping to finish the month the same way they opened it are the Tauros, who swept Aberdeen to kick start their current six-game win streak. Minot enters the week coming off a sweep of the North Iowa Bulls, where goaltenders James Norton stopped 14 of 15 shots in a 2-1 win on Friday night, then Brady James followed that up by stopping 20 of 21 shots in a 4-1 win on Saturday night. Offensively, the Tauros took a scoring by committee approach to the weekend, with Jack O’Hanisain, Colby Woogk, Will Dawson, Niklas Ketonen, Joel Lehtinen, and Pavol Funtek all finding the back of the net.
To no surprise, the continued winning by Minot has them sitting at the top of the NAHL Central Division with 31 points and a 15-3-1 record. The Bobcats and Wings occupy fourth and fifth place, respectively, with the Bobcats having 24 points and a record of 12-9-0, while the Wings have 19 points and a record of 8-11-1. Holding a four-point edge at the top of the standings, the Tauros will need to keep up the strong play if they want to create more separation in the division standings.
Both Friday and Saturday night’s games in Minot are Blackout Nights with fans encouraged to wear black in the stands to match the Tauros specialty black-out jerseys. The jerseys are available to bid on in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App or on our digital auction partner DASH. Tickets to both games are available, in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App, through the “Tickets” tab atop this page or by visiting the Tauros ticketing site tickets.minotauroshockey.com.