By Jeremy Pike, minotauroshockey.com
MINOT, ND – The Minot Minotauros earned a split of the weekend series with the Austin Bruins after capping the weekend with a 5-1 win on a rowdy Saturday night. It was a complete game with three-point nights from Jack O’Hanisain and Colby Woogk along with a strong performance in net from Lukas Swedin.
The first period was one of the craziest periods that the Pespsi Rink at Maysa Arena has seen in a while. There were 11 penalties called before the first goal of the game was scored. The Tauros got on the power play 12:20 into the game when Austin Salani got called for a high stick, and it didn’t take long for the power play to click.
The Tauros got set up in the offensive zone, and after moving the puck around, Woogk got the puck at the point. He skated down slightly before unleashing a shot that caromed around before bouncing off Nick Sewecke and into the net only 19 seconds into the man advantage. It was Sewecke’s 11th goal of the season. That was Woogk’s first assist of the night but not his last, and O’Hanisain picked up the secondary assist. He would have more to come as well.
Just over half a minute later, the Tauros would extend the lead. Weston Knox found Cayden Casey in the neutral zone, and Casey gained the blueline with speed. He split the defense just inside the blue line and got a mini-breakaway before snapping a shot past Bruins goalie Trent Wiemken. That was Casey’s ninth goal of the season and Knox’s 18th assist of the year.
The first period would mercifully come to an end four seconds after the Bruins’ Kaden Muir got called for cross-checking. That final penalty capped off a first period that saw 13 total penalties, the same number as the Tauros’ shot total. Despite the total, there were only five power plays in the period if you include the four seconds the Tauros had the man advantage to end the period.
That late penalty would translate to a power play goal less than a minute into the second period. O’Hanisain worked his way down to just inside the right faceoff dot before ripping a shot through a screen and inside the far post for his 24th goal of the season and team-leading 11th power-play goal. Niklas Ketonen picked up his first assist of the night but would feature again later in the game. Woogk picked up his second assist of the night, bringing his season total to 18.
The Tauros would extend the lead to 4-0 at the 7:05 mark. Woogk picked up his third point of the night after finding himself in the Bruins’ crease, an area normally reserved for forwards, not a defenseman. Jake Gardner took a hard shot from the point and Woogk was able to poke the rebound home for his 13th goal of the season. Gardner picked up his second assist of the season while Ian Spencer got credit for his eighth assist.
The Bruins pulled Weimken for Vilgot Holm after Woogk’s goal. Weimken finished the night with 12 saves on 16 shots, a far cry from his stellar performance on Friday night.
With just over five minutes remaining in the period, the Tauros netted their fifth goal of the night. O’Hanisain set up on the left wing wall and found John Emmons skating into the high slot. Emmons dropped to one knee as he ripped the puck just inside the far post. That was Emmons’ seventh goal of the season. O’Hanisain’s assist was his 26th of the season, and Ketonen got the secondary assist for his second helper of the night and 28th of the season.
The second period did not feature as many penalties as the first, but there were still seven penalties called. The trend of questionable calls and mysterious offsetting penalties did continue in the period, but after Muir and Spencer exchanged some heavy shots after the whistle with just under four minutes left in the period, the worst seemed to be over for the rest of the night.
The Bruins did get a consolation goal with just under five minutes gone in the third period. There was a delayed penalty, and a long shot by Ashton Bynum from the point snuck through a screen and by Swedin. Swedin finished the night with 25 saves on 26 assists. There were only two other penalties called in the period, making the third period by far the calmest of the night.
The Tauros finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play while continuing their strong play while down a man, killing all four Bruins opportunities.
Saturday was a nice bounceback for the Tauros after dropping Friday night’s game 2-0. It wasn’t for a lack of trying as the Tauros outshot Austin 37-22. It was just that Wiemken and his defense were stellar, and the Bruins just took advantage of a couple of opportunities.
The first period was quiet despite both teams putting double-digit shot attempts on goal. Only one penalty was called as Chad Muller went to the box for the Tauros for slashing.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the Bruins were able to break through Brady James in the second. They opened the scoring only 2:45 into the period with a nice passing sequence. They worked it into the left-wing corner before flipping the puck out front where another Bruins player just slipped it cross-crease to the far post. Will Diamond stood wide open for the easy tap-in to make it 1-0.
Almost 10 minutes later, the Bruins made it 2-0. Jackson Rilei caught James off-guard with a long seeing-eye shot, and that would be the final goal of the game.
However, it wasn’t the end of the fireworks. Diamond would tangle with Chad Muller about four minutes later, getting called for roughing and cross-checking. That would not be the end of Diamond’s involvement on the night. Not yet, anyway.
Just 2:54 into the third period, Diamond would appear to lose his mind. Will Dawson played a physical game all night, standing up to the Bruins’ physical play. With just under three minutes gone, Dawson made a clean open-ice hit and put a Bruins player down on the ice. There was nothing egregious, the player had just touched the puck, and it was face-to-face.
For whatever reason, Diamond took real exception to it and leveled Dawson. As Dawson tried to get back up, Diamond threw both of his gloves and went after Dawson who was just trying to keep his distance. The referee and linesmen stepped in to separate the two and restore order.
Part of that order restoration meant that Diamond, the player who scored what turned out to be the game-winner, was assessed a five-minute fighting major and a fighting game misconduct. He was ejected and missed Saturday night’s game as well. Unfortunately for the Tauros, they were unable to take advantage of the five-minute man advantage, part of an 0-for-4 effort on the power play Friday night.
Wiemken stopped all 37 shots he faced while James stopped 20 of 22.
The Tauros will be home at the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena next weekend to take on the Aberdeen Wings. 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.