By Jeremy Pike for minotauroshockey.com. ABERDEEN, SD – The Minot Minotauros split the weekend spoils for the second weekend in a row. This time, the Tauros won on Friday night as is their custom but dropped the Saturday night rematch with the Aberdeen Wings. Nick Sewecke found himself on the scoresheet both nights with two goals and an assist on the weekend.
The Tauros struggled with special teams in the 5-2 loss Saturday night, especially with the normally-stingy penalty kill struggling. With Chad Muller in the box for high sticking, the Wings got to work and opened the scoring 6:32 into the first period. Simon Pollock pounced on a loose puck caused by a long shot from the point and swept it past Tauros goaltender Lukas Swedin.
That was the only goal in the first period that saw the Tauros outshoot Aberdeen 9-6.
The Wings and the Tauros traded early power play opportunities in the second period but neither were able to solve the respective goalies. Just before the ten-minute mark, Nikolai Tishkevich tipped a shot from Leonid Bulgakov at the point past Swedin to make it 2-0.
Just a little over three minutes later, Colby Bear got the Tauros on the board, and it started back in the defensive zone. Weston Knox took possession below the blue line and found Sewecke on the right wing in the neutral zone. Sewecke quickly skated into the offensive zone with a Wings defender on him. Sewecke fed Bear who was cutting through the slot towards the right wing, and Bear unleashed a rocket of a shot at a pretty tough angle that snuck just inside the far post to make it 2-1. That was Bear’s fourth goal of the season, Sewecke’s ninth assist, and Knox’s 13th.
Unfortunately, the Wings were able to restore the two-goal lead late. With just 2:03 remaining in the period, Bulgakov made it 3-1. The Wings entered the zone on an odd-man rush, and Tishkevich carried the puck deep on the right wing before dropping it back to the trailing Bulgakov in the slot for the goal.
The Tauros entered the second intermission down by two yet having outshot the hosts 17-11 in the period.
Sewecke gave the Tauros some life 7:12 into the third period. Ian Spencer gained the offensive zone on the right-wing wall. Right before he was squeezed off the puck and into the boards, he laid it off to the onrushing Sewecke. Sewecke cut inside the near faceoff dot and ripped the puck home to make it 3-2. That was his eighth goal of the season and second of the weekend, while Spencer and Bear each added their third assist (Spencer’s second assist of the weekend.)
It looked like the Tauros would have a shot at tying the game when Matthew Weisener was sent to the box for tripping with just under eight minutes to play. Unfortunately, the resulting power play was cut short when Joel Lehtinen was whistled for interference 1:06 into the man advantage.
Then with only eight seconds remaining in the Wings’ shortened power play, Pollock netted his second of the game. A long shot caromed off the end boards behind Swedin, and Pollock swatted the puck out of the air and into the net while standing on the edge of the crease. Despite some protests of a high stick, the goal stood, making it 4-2 Wings with under five minutes to play.
28 seconds later, the Tauros had one last shot on the power play but were unfortunately unable to capitalize, going 0-3 on the man advantage on the night.
Then with 1:57 remaining and Swedin pulled for the extra attacker, the Tauros turned the puck over near the Wings’ blue line, and Kai Vahakangas found the back of the empty net to make it 5-2.
Despite putting 39 shots on net (and outshooting the Wings by 12 overall on the night,) the Tauros could not consistently solve Wings goalie Cameron Croix-Kochendorfer who was arguably the biggest key to the Wings’ win.
Friday night was a different story as the Tauros won 3-0. It was Swedin’s first game against the Wings, and he became the first Tauros goalie to earn a shutout against Aberdeen in his first start against them. Special teams was also more effective Friday with the penalty kill shutting down all four short-handed situations they faced.
The power play only connected once, but that proved to be enough. With 5:02 remaining in the first and Riley Sharun in the box for hooking, Niklas Ketonen got the Tauros on the board with a one-man show. Jack O’Hanisain gave him the puck in the neutral zone, and Ketonen dangled his way through the Wings’ defense before sniping his 12th goal of the season. O’Hanisain picked up his 19th assist on the goal.
That was the only goal of the first period in which the Tauros outshot the Wings 13-6. It also proved to be the game-winning goal.
The second period did not feature any scoring, and both teams killed off their respective penalties in the period. The lack of goals was not for lack of trying, though. Both teams put more shots on net than in the first, and the Tauros once again outshot Aberdeen 15-8 in the period.
The Tauros got an insurance goal 13:34 into the period from Sewecke. Lehtinen won a race down the left wing and carried the puck behind the net before dishing it off to Spencer. Spencer headed for the corner before sending a beautiful pass out front to a crashing Sewecke who was able to tuck the puck home to make it 2-0.
Then with under three minutes remaining and the Wings having pulled goalie Adam Dybal, Cayden Casey pounced on an errant exit pass by the Wings. He quickly fed the puck to Trevor Stachowiak who got the empty-net goal, his ninth goal of the season. Casey picked up his 14th assist.
Next weekend, the Tauros return home for Superhero Weekend against the Austin Bruins on January 26th and 27th. Stay tuned to our socials for more information on how you can nominate a local superhero. The Tauros will also be wearing Prairie Grit specialty jerseys which will be auctioned to benefit Prairie Grit. Tickets for both games are available in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App, through the “Tickets” tab atop this page, or by visiting the Tauros ticketing site.