By Sean Williams, www.minotauroshockey.com
Austin, MN – Following a rare weekend off, the Minot Minotauros are heading to Austin this weekend, where they will take on the Bruins for the final time during the regular season. With 79 points and a record of 39-12-1, the Tauros enter the weekend in first place in the Central Division and have already secured a spot in the Robertson Cup Playoffs. The Bruins, however, are still battling to secure their playoff spot and they enter the weekend in third place in the Central Division with a record of 27-22-2 and 57 points on the year.
Even though this weekend will be the 11th and 12th time the Tauros and Bruins have met this year, the overall season series has been in favor of the Tauros, who have a 7-3-0 record against the Bruins. Lately, the Bruins have made a valiant effort to flip the script of the season series, as these teams have split the last two series they have played.
In those 10 games with the Bruins thus far, the Tauros are averaging 3.2 goals per game and only giving up 1.9 goals per game to the opposition. A balanced attack offensively has worked well for the Tauros, as Colby Woogk’s six goals against Austin leads the team, while Nicholas Sewecke, John Emmons and Jack O’Hanisain have added four goals apiece, Trevor Stachowiak and Chad Muller have scored three times each, Niklas Ketonen, Colby Bear and Cayden Casey have each scored twice, and Will Dawson chipped in with one goal as well.
The Bruins have managed to spread out the scoring too, however, most of the damage against the Tauros has come off the stick of Austin Salani and his four goals. Gustav Noren, Ocean Wallace, Will Diamond, Kaden Muir, Alex Laurenza and Jackson Rilei have all tallied two goals apiece, and Parker Anderson and Damon Furuseth have each scored once against Minot this season.
Looking at special teams, both Minot and Austin have converted on the power play at a similar clip and are the top two teams in the Central in that category. Minot has converted on 19.74% of their power plays, compared to the 19.00% Austin has put together. The Tauros, however, have the edge on the penalty kill where they have killed off an impressive 89.07% of their penalties to lead the division. The Bruins have the fourth best penalty kill in the Central, coming in at 80.36%.
Hopefully the time off won’t slow down the Minotauros, as they are brining a six-game winning streak with them to Austin. The Bruins were able to bounce back from a three-game losing streak last weekend after they split with the North Iowa Bulls. Puck drop between the Tauros and Bruins is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Riverside Arena on Friday and Saturday night.