by: Ken Oda, minotauroshockey.com
Aberdeen, SD – After a rare Friday off the Minotauros get their first look at the Aberdeen Wings this season tonight. The first place Tauros and last place Wings both come in cold; the Tauros are riding a three game losing streak and the Wings have dropped their last six.
Aberdeen comes in struggling on offense scoring just 1.92 goals per game which is second to last in the NAHL, on a league worst 26 shots per game. Tucker DeYoung (3g 7a) leads the Wings with 10 points on the season; Gavin Payne (6g 2a) leads the team with six goals. Meanwhile the Tauros offense has dropped to 10th in the NAHL after posting just three goals over the last three games. The dry spell has the Tauros averaging 3.13 goals per game on 30.73 shots per game. Johnny Walker (11g 9a) leads the Tauros and is fifth in the NAHL with 20 points. Five other Tauros, Chase Springman (5g 7a), James LaDouce (4g 8a), Austin Martinsen (6g 5a), Christian Mohs (4g 7a), and Tyler Jeanson (2g 9a); all have double digit points.
Defensively the teams are much closer in the rankings with the Tauros allowing the 10th fewest goals at 2.47 while the Wings allow 2.92 goals per game which is 14th. In net Peter Thome and Gavin Paczosa have identical 2.54 GAAs, though Thome has a .924 sv% compared to Paczosa’s .913 sv%. For the Tauros Jon Flakne (1.93gaa .922sv%) and Lucas Murray (2.62gaa .896sv%) have split time.
Watch and Listen: Tonight’s game will be available available to watch on a pay per view basis on fasthockey.com. Free audio will be available 1390 AM over the air in Minot as well as streaming anywhere online at prostyleproduction.com.