Minot, ND – The Minotauros used a big second period to pull away from the Aberdeen Wings in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd on Monday night (box score). The win moved the Tauros alone into third place in the Central Division and sets up a chance for the Tauros to pass the first place Minnesota Wilderness this weekend with a sweep in Cloquet.
The first period saw the Wings strike first when Mack Byers got his first of the season when he tapped home a pass from behind the net to beat Tauro goalie Ben Garrity. Jay Buchholz drew the Tauros even four minutes later when he jammed a Cole O’Connell rebound past Jake Sibell. The 1-1 draw held through to the first intermission.
Then in the second period the Tauros got hot. O’Connell set up the Tauros next goal as well with a pass from the corner to Owen Baumgartner who then fired a shot from the slot past Sibell. Two minutes later Ville Immonen, doubled the lead to 3-1 when he scored on a two-on-one rush with Nik Armstrong-Kingkade. Just 42 seconds later Buchholz dove to swat a loose puck to Kyler Kleven who was all alone in front of the Wings net. Kleven roofed a shot into the top corner to extend the Tauro lead to 4-1.
The Tauros were done scoring at that point and the Wings tried to push back but Garrity held strong stopping 45 of 46 shots on the night Garrity shut the door on any comeback attempt by the Wings. Next up for the Tauros is a trip to Cloquet, MN, to take on the Minnesota Wilderness and then an off weekend. The Tauros return home to the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena on Black Friday (November 29th) to take on the St. Cloud Blizzard. The Tauros will be giving away $250 each time they score that night, all fans in attendance are eligible and automatically entered to win. Tickets for that and all Tauros games are available through the “Tickets” tab atop this page.