By Sean Williams, www.minotauroshockey.com
Minot, N.D. – With a sweep of the St. Cloud Norsemen last weekend, the Minot Minotauros did a favor for the Austin Bruins, who is their opponent coming to the Maysa Arena this weekend. Granted the Bruins have been taking care of business on their end by coming into the weekend on a three-game winning streak, however, the sweep of St. Cloud last weekend helped the Bruins slide into fourth place in the Central Division with 49 points and a record of 23-18-2. The Minotauros enter the weekend on a three-game winning streak as well, and still maintain first place in the division with a record of 33-11-1 and 67 points on the year.
Adding to the successful weekend sweep of St. Cloud, forward Ian Spencer of the Minotauros was named the NAHL Central Division Star of the Week. Spencer had a five-point weekend, which started with a goal and an assist on Friday night. For the encore of the performance, Spencer rounded out his weekend with a goal and two assists on Saturday night.
Looking forward to this weekend, over the last three games the Bruins have picked up a win over St. Cloud and swept the North Iowa Bulls. During that streak, they have been able to score in bunches by averaging 4.33 goals per game and are shutting opponents down by allowing an even 1 goal per game. In 44 games this year, Austin has scored 125 goals and allowed 126 which are both the fourth best in the Central Division. The team has found a lot of success on the power play, where they have put together division bests with 41 goals on the advantage and a 21.3% power-play conversion (PP%).
The Minotauros have shown the ability to score over the last three games as well, where they are averaging 4 goals per game and allowing 1.33 goals per game following a win over the Bismarck Bobcats and a sweep of St. Cloud. In a more complete and bigger picture, the Minotauros not only sit at the top of the division standings, but they also lead the way in goals scored with 156 and goals allowed with 97. Additionally, Minot has scored 39 power-play goals for a 19.6 PP% and they have the best penalty-kill conversion in the Central by killing off a remarkable 88.7% of their penalties.
In 8 games between these two this season, the Minotauros have held the edge with a 6-2-0 record against the Bruins. Goaltending has provided a boost to Minot in this season series, with the combination of Brady James and James Norton allowing one goal or less in three of those games, including one shutout apiece by James and Norton. Bruins’ goaltender Trent Wiemken has found success in the matchup as well by shutting out the Minotauros in one of Austin’s wins.
Offensively, Minot has done a good job of utilizing a balanced attack against Austin this year. The team has seen 10 different players score at least one goal in the season series up to this point. Colby Woogk’s five goals leads the way in those eight games, followed by Trevor Stachowiak with four goals, John Emmons, Nicholas Sewecke, Jack O’Hanisain and Chad Muller with three goals each, Niklas Ketonen and Colby Bear with two goals each, and Cayden Casey and Will Dawson rounding out the scoring with one goal each.
However, the Bruins have been able to match the firepower brought to the offensive zone by also having 10 players score at least one goal against Minot this year. Austin Salani leads the way in the matchup with four goals, followed by Kaden Muir, Ocean Wallace, Gustav Noren and Alex Laurenza with two goals each, and William Diamond, Parker Anderson, Philippe Lalonde, Damon Furuseth and Jackson Rilei adding one goal apiece.
This weekend will be the last time the Minotauros host the Bruins during the regular season, as the two teams are scheduled to begin the festivities on Friday at 7:35 p.m. at the Pepsi Rink, and will conclude their weekend one day later at the same time. Minot will make one more trip to Austin in the regular season, which is set to take place near the end of March. The weekend kicks off a run of five consecutive home games for the Tauros with Aberdeen coming in the following weekend followed by Bismarck on Tuesday March 5th. This Friday, February 23rd, is also the Farmers Union Jersey Giveaway. The first 750 fans to bring three non-perishable food items or a $10 donation to The Lord’s Cupboard will receive a Tauros jersey from Farmers Union Insurance. Tickets for all remaining home games are available in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App, through the “Tickets” tab atop this page, or by visiting the Tauros ticketing site.