Mason City, IA – The Minotauros head to Mason City, IA, this weekend to take on the North Iowa Bulls. The teams split a pair of closely contested games in Minot two weeks ago with the Tauros winning 3-2 on Friday and falling 2-1 on Saturday. Since then, the Bulls have rattled off four wins in a row with sweeps of Austin and Aberdeen while the Tauros have gone 2-1-0 splitting with Bismarck and then beating St. Cloud in their only game last weekend. Last season the Tauros and Bulls split both weekend sets in Mason City.
Much like last season the Bulls are charging hard out of the gate taking the top spot in the Central. They have done so with good results at both ends of the ice ranking sixth in offense with 3.30 goals/game and second on defense allowing just 1.80 goals/game. Returners Byron Hartley (8g 6a), Justin Mexico (5g 6a), and Logan Dombrowsky (1g 9a) are each at a point-per-game or better through Iowa’s first 10 contests. Meanwhile in goal Erik Chaffe and Mitch Day have combined to allow just 18 goals on a .944 SV%.
The Tauros meanwhile have been getting the job done with depth. Through nine games 16 different Tauros have scored. Four, Nick O’Hanisain, Max Martin, Cooper Rice, and Justin Dauphinais, are tied for the team lead with three goals. The Tauros goaltending duo of Lawton Zacher and Dane Couture have combined for a .932 SV% and 1.88 GAA in their eight starts.
The Farmers Union Pregame Show will kickoff at 6:55 p.m. for a 7:10 p.m. puck drop on the Minotauros Network. The game can be watched on HockeyTV, a full season pass is just $149.99. Fans can listen to free audio broadcasts on the Tauros Facebook page, Mixlr, gotauros.com, or in the Tauros Hockey App.