Edward Nieman, www.minotauroshockey.com
St. Cloud, MN — In the penultimate weekend in February, the Tauros made their final regular-season road trip to St. Cloud to take on the Norsemen for the fifth series between the two. Despite winning five of their last ten, the Tauros had found consistent success against the Norsemen compiling a 6-2 record on the season series entering the weekend.
Friday night was no different.
The Tauros began the weekend ahead on the scoreboard in the opening stanza courtesy of an Adam Mahler rocket that found nylon past Norsemen goaltender Ryan Manzella’s glove side. Ian Spencer spearheaded a rush into the offensive zone prompting the pass back to the trailing defenseman Mahler to set up the goal with under a minute before the first intermission. Mahler’s goal was good for his fourth of the season.
The Tauros took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission outshooting the Norsemen 11-10 in the opening period of play.
The second period saw continued success for the Tauros offensively. Less than halfway into the second period, the Tauros found the back of the net via a Nicholas Ketonen goal that was fed into the net from the goal-line through traffic to get past Manzella.
Ketonen’s goal was just a sample of the success that he’s found against the Norsemen this year. The goal marked his 11th point against St. Cloud and his third goal to that point this season.
In the late stages of the second frame, the Tauros struck again, this time on a power-play. The score came off a backhanded assist from Muller setting up Lehtinen to fire it to the corner of the net extending the Tauro lead to three heading into the break.
The Tauros added two additional goals on a pair of empty netters by way of Ian Spencer (3) and Jack O’Hanisain (23) to seal the Friday night 5-1 victory for the Tauros.
Brady James made a near-perfect 27 of 28 saves on shots faced in the affair to stifle the Norsemen’s offense in the first of the weekend series.
The action picked up on Saturday right where the Tauros offense left off.
Ian Spencer corralled a rebound and fired a backhanded try into the net for his second goal of the weekend and fourth on the year, giving the Tauros the 1-0 advantage. Spencer’s goal beat Norsemen netminder Max Weilandt just 8:33 into the first period of play.
The Tauros added another before hitting the first break as Will Dawson found the five-hole while playing 4-on-4 following a handful of penalties giving the Minotauros a two-goal lead. The goal was Dawson’s 11th of the season as Lehtinen was credited with his 35th assist.
Early in the second, the Norsemen got one back for only their second goal of the weekend via a Micheal Coleman wrister that beat Lukas Swedin over his glove into the top corner of the net.
With seconds remaining in the second period, Stachowiak found himself one-on-one with the Norsemen netminder all alone after gathering a turnover. Stachowiak rocketed one past Weilandt’s glove side to extend the Tauro lead back to two goals.
With the goal, Stachowiak tied Colby Joseph as the sixth all-time goal scorer for the Tauros at 33 career goals.
Despite the lead, the Tauros’ scoring wasn’t done yet. Midway through the final period of play Colby Bear turned a costly Norsemen turnover in the Tauro offensive zone into quick points, firing the puck into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the year.
Norsemen point leader Hagan Moe got one back in the third period for the Norsemen but it proved to be too little too late as the Tauros iced it with a John Small empty-netter to secure the 5-2 victory and series sweep for Minot.
The series sweep brings the Tauros win total to 33 as they inch closer to the franchise’s winnest season which currently stands at 38, held by the 2016-17 team. The Tauros’ overall record now stands at 33-11-1 as they head back home for five straight contests.
Next up the Tauros return home to the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena to host the Austin Bruins next Friday and Saturday night. The weekend kicks off a run of five consecutive home games for the Tauros with Aberdeen coming in the following weekend followed by Bismarck on Tuesday March 5th. This Friday, February 23rd, is also the Farmers Union Jersey Giveaway. The first 750 fans to bring three non-perishable food items or a $10 donation to The Lord’s Cupboard will receive a Tauros jersey from Farmers Union Insurance. Tickets for all remaining home games are available in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App, through the “Tickets” tab atop this page, or by visiting the Tauros ticketing site.