St. Cloud, MN – The Minotauros head into the final stretch of the season tied for second place in the NAHL Central Division. With 10 games left before the playoffs the Tauros have the fewest games remaining in a tight divisional playoff race that sees first place St. Cloud and last place Bismarck separated by just 14 points; no other division has less than a 36 point spread between first and last. That is to say while the Tauros are tied with Aberdeen for second in the division they should not feel comfortable just yet.
The Tauros have four games remaining against first place St. Cloud who has lost just four times in 2020. Aside from those contests the Tauros see fifth place North Iowa and last place Bismarck; while that sounds like an easy schedule the Tauros are just 2-4-0 against North Iowa and Bismarck has been the second hottest team since being swept by the Tauros to close out 2021 they have gone 13-5-0 to climb back into the playoff race.
This weekend in St. Cloud the Tauros will look to right the ship against the Norsemen who have taken six of the first eight meetings between the clubs this season. Five of those six losses however came with the departed Carter Clafton and Austin Zavoda in net as the duo combined to allow 28 goals in five contests against St. Cloud.
The Tauros are finally full strength again and that has shown in the results, rebounding from a brutal 1-7-0 January to go 6-3-1 since. The Norsemen meanwhile have cooled off slightly going 1-1-2 over their last four after winning 13 games in a row from January 15th through February 25th. The Tauros last victory over St. Cloud came in Zach Sandy’s first junior shutout, a 42 save performance, on November 13th.
The puck drops both nights at 7:00 p.m. which means the Farmers Union Pregame Show kicks off at 6:45 on the Minotauros Network. After the weekend set in St. Cloud the Tauros return home to take on the Bismarck Bobcats next Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday night is the next Sports Shaq Tauros trading card strip giveaway and skate with the Tauros night. Get tickets through the “Tickets” tab atop this page or by clicking here