Weekend Preview 3-18-22

Mar 18, 2022

Minot, ND – The Minotauros head into a weekend set with the hated Bismarck Bobcats with both teams seeing the pair of games as an opportunity.  For the Tauros it is a chance to bury the Bobcats in the standings.  Already five points ahead of the Cats a good performance by the Tauros would leave the Cats nine points back with just eight games to play.  The opportunity is reversed for the Cats, a good weekend could pull them within a point of the Tauros and two of Austin and tighten the race for the Central’s four playoff spots even more.

The Tauros have won six of the first eight meetings with the Bobcats outscoring them 31-22.  The Cats two wins however have come in blowout fashion 7-3 on October 1st and 5-1 in the most recent meeting on February 12th.

As he has against most teams this season Zach Sandy has been huge part of the Tauros success against Bismarck posting a .959 SV% and 1.33 GAA against Bismarck winning all three of his starts.  At the other end of the ice Oskar Spinnars-Nordin has taken the crease for the Bobcats starting every game since January 14th.  In that time he has gone 13-5-0 posting a .912 SV% and 2.509 GAA in those 18 starts.  Like Sandy for the Tauros Spinnars-Nordin has been a huge key to the Bobcats return to relevancy in the playoff race.  Prior to his run of strong play he and the rest of the Bismarck netminders had combined for a 3.95 GAA and .881 SV%.

Another key for the Bobcats turnaround has been the return of Ryan Taylor.  Taylor who was injured in his first game of the season against the Tauros on October 1st returned against the Tauros on February 11th and in 10 games since returning from injury he has seven goals and eight assists.

For the Tauros Colby Joseph and Connor McGrath have led the way since the turn of the new year with 11 points each.  Braydon Beahm is right on their tails with 10 points, his six goals second on the team behind Joseph’s eight in 2022.

Saturday night will be the March Skate with the Tauros and there will also be a Sports Shaq Tauros trading card strip giveaway.  Puck drop for both games is at 7:35 on the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena.  Tickets are available through the “Tickets” tab atop this page or by visiting tickets.minotauroshockey.com.