Weekend Preview 2-24-23

Feb 24, 2023

Minot, ND – The Minotauros and Bobcats close out their season series this weekend with a home-and-home set starting in Bismarck on Friday before coming back to Minot on Saturday night.  The Tauros have already won the season series with a 7-3-0 record against the Cats so far.

The Tauros currently sit just two points ahead of the Bismarck Bobcats for the fourth place in the Central Division as the final quarter of the season approaches.  The division continues to remain tight with just seven points separating second place Aberdeen and last place North Iowa.

The weekend gives the Tauros a chance to post their best ever record against the Cats surpassing the 2014-15 Tauros who went 7-3-2 against the Bismarck in the regular season before sweeping the Cats in the first round of the playoffs.  Hunter Longhi leads the head-to-head series with 15 points on six goals and nine assists over the 10 games.  Longhi can also rewrite the Tauros record book this weekend, with 51 points already on the season he is just five points from surpassing Mirolav Mucha’s franchise record of 55 points in a season set in the 2017-18 season.

The unlike the last four meetings between the teams the Bobcats will have Linards Lipskis who had been with the Latvian national team at the IIHF World Juniors.  Lipskis has two of the Cats three wins against the Tauros and posted a .948 SV% over four games against the Tauros this year.

Special teams may play a huge role in the weekend set, the Tauros power play has scored on an even 20% of their chances against Bismarck but the Cats have posted a 8 goals on 26 chances for a 30.8% conversion rate.  In the Tauros three losses to the Bobcats they are a combined 0/9 on the power play while the Cats scored a power play goal in each of their wins.

The series kicks off Friday in Bismarck (tickets) before coming back to the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena on Saturday night against the same Bobcats (tickets).  As always fans will be able to tune into the games on the Minotauros Network.  The game can be watched on HockeyTV or fans can listen to free audio broadcasts on the Tauros Facebook page, Mixlr, gotauros.com, or in the Tauros Hockey App.  The Farmers Union Pregame show will start 15 minutes before puck drop each night.