By: Jeremy Pike, minotauroshockey.com
Minot, ND – The Minotauros took five of a possible six points by capping off the three-game weekend with a 1-0 win over the St Cloud Norsemen Saturday night. Goalie Brady James stopped all 21 shots he faced as he earned the shutout. That was impressive considering he played the full three periods, overtime, and shootout Friday night as well.
Despite having to play three games in three nights, the Tauros were all over the visitors who only had to deal with two games in two nights. If it wasn’t for St Cloud goalie Max Weilandt’s performance in net, the scoreline would likely have favored the hosts much more heavily. Weilandt stopped 33 of the 34 shots he saw on Saturday night.
The Tauros had seven cracks at goal with the man advantage and were able to make one in the second period count. With just under 12 minutes gone by, Joel Lehtinen got into a scrum along the wall to Weilandt’s right. He dislodged the puck and Jack O’Hanisain pounced on it, driving down the wing and drew the defender in the slot to him. O’Hanisain slid the puck past the defender to Niklas Ketonen who fired one five-hole for the game’s lone goal.
While Saturday night had the ice tilted heavily towards the Tauros, at least in the first two periods, Friday night was a little different in the 2-1 shootout win. The first period was quite uneventful before St Cloud got a goal less than seven minutes into the second. The Norsemen established good puck control in the offensive zone before kicking the puck back to the blue line. As the defensemen cycled the puck, Lucca Munoz got open in the high slot for a pass and he ripped it home to give St Cloud the 1-0 lead.
It took a little late-game magic kickstarted by Tauros captain Trevor Stachowiak to knot the game up at one with under five minutes left in the third. Stax was able to fight through some struggles in the offensive zone to get the puck back to Ty James at the point. He was able to wind up and fire one in the direction of the net where John Small was able to tip the puck home at the back post.
Both James and St Cloud goalie Ryan Manzella were terrific in regulation and overtime with the netminders making big saves in key moments. Manzella finished the night with 29 saves on 30 shots through the extra period while James saved 20 of the 21 shots he faced.
The performances in net continued into the shootout, but Lehtinen was able to solve Manzella when his low shot just snuck through the five-hole. He was the only player to score, and James slammed the door shut on all three shooters he faced.
While Friday and Saturday nights were low-scoring, tense affairs, Friday night ratcheted up the tension thanks to an avalanche of goals when the Tauros welcomed their rivals the Bismarck Bobcats for a single game. While the Tauros fell short in overtime, they were able to secure a point in the 5-4 loss.
The first period was full of action between a slew of penalties and five combined goals. Bismarck opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game when a dump-in took a wicked carom that caught goalie James Norton out of his net and Kade Koharski was able to pounce on it for an easy goal into the empty net.
The Tauros were able to tie the game up on the power play less than six minutes later. Lehtinen got the puck and found O’Hanisain in the high slot for a one-timer that just snuck over goalie Stephen Peck’s glove.
Less than a minute later, the Tauros had their first lead of the game. John Emmons and Adam Mahler teamed up to work the puck back to Weston Knox who threw one on net that somehow found its way over the goal line.
With just over five minutes left in the period and down a man, Bismarck was able to take advantage of another issue in the Tauros defensive zone when a Tauros player blindly flipped the puck into the center of the ice from the wall where Julian Beaumont was lurking. He got a shot away that Norton stopped, but the rebound kicked right to Jakub Kopecky at the top of the crease with no defender on him.
However, a late Bobcats penalty gave the Tauros a chance to take the lead heading into the first intermission. Small skated down the left wing and drew a defender’s attention before flipping the puck out front to a waiting Ketonen on the top of the crease for the power-play goal.
The second period put the Tauros in a hole as Bismarck tallied two goals to take a 4-3 lead going into the final frame. Matthew Rafalski tied the game with a laser of a shot from the slot with just over five minutes remaining in the period thanks to some great forechecking that caused a turnover. Then with just under four minutes remaining, the Bobcats were enjoying a spell of offensive possession and working the puck behind the Tauros goal. Chase Beacom read the play and crashed down from his point position. Trent Anfinson put the puck on Beacom’s stick and he one-timed it for the lead.
Just as the Tauros would end up doing on Friday night, they dug deep and found a goal with under five minutes remaining. Once again, the captain Stax was a central figure. While Peck had managed to control rebounds all night long, Stax was able to create one with a hard shot, and John Emmons crashed the net to shovel it home to tie the game.
Unfortunately, the Bobcats would grab the win less than a minute into overtime. Evan Hunter dangled through the Tauros defense and was able to just slip the puck under Norton’s pads as the goalie stretched in an attempt to stop the shot.
By taking five points out of a possible six, the Tauros sit second in the Central Division with 17 points. They trail division-leading Austin by two points, but the Bruins have played one more game than the Tauros.
Next up the Minotauros hit the road for two weekends in a row, first to Austin then to Aberdeen. The Tauros will then return home November 10th and 11th to take on the Austin Bruins. Tickets for those and all Tauro home games are available through the “Tickets” tab atop this page or by visiting tickets.minotauroshockey.com.