By Andrew Lennox, www.minotauroshockey.com
St. Cloud, MN. – The Minot Minotauros enter February sitting in first place in the NAHL’s Central Division after winning five of eight contests in January. Coming off a 5-0 victory over the Austin Bruins one week ago, the Tauros headed to St. Cloud to face off against the Norsemen for a two-game weekend series.
Friday, Tauros Rylan Jockims scored the first goal of the weekend just 4:32 into the first period when his shot from the point found the back of the net, beating St. Cloud’s starting netminder Ryan Manzella for his second marker this season. Jockims would soon strike again, putting the Tauros up 2-0. Weston Knox and Trevor Stachowiak provided the assists at the 6:35 mark. Midway through the period, the Norsemen cut the lead to 2-1 as forward Tyler Dysart cruised in on a breakaway, sliding the puck five-hole past Minot’s goalie Lukas Swedin.
Minot dominated the opening frame, outshooting the Norsemen 21-5. However, St. Cloud evened the score 2-2 at the 14:37 mark in the second. The Tauros were scrambling in their defensive zone, and the puck ended up on Andrew Cummings’s stick for the easy tap-in as Swedin was down in front of his crease. Minot responded quickly. A minute later, Jack O’Hanisian, coming out of the corner left of Manzella’s crease, blasted a rocket to register his 22nd tally this season. Niklas Ketonen and Joel Lehtinen logged the assists.
Unfortunately for Minot, the Norsemen’s offense sparked as they collected three straight goals from forwards Ethan Lindahl, Micheal Coleman and Gavin Gunderson. The Tauros would pull within one with two minutes left in regulation. Defenseman Coby Woogk was responsible for the tally, ripping a wrist shot from the high slot. Woogk now carries the record for goals in a Tauros regular season by a defenseman with 12. Will Dawson earned the assist. Minot was unable to get on the board again before Dysart scored an empty netter to clinch the 6-4 win for St. Cloud.
Unlike Friday, the Norsemen kicked off scoring in the second frame with a wrap-around attempt by Hagen Moe that led to St. Clouds’ Andrew Cummings pouncing on a rebound to score on James 5:35 into the period. At 9:07, Minot would tie the score at 1-1. Ian Spencer found the back of the net after capitalizing on a rebound given up by Manzella. St. Cloud would collect two more goals from Wes Berg and Gavin Gunderson before heading into intermission.
Into the final 20 minutes of play, the Tauros would draw within one after John Emmons squeezed one past Manzella just 2:03 into the period for his fifth goal in this year’s campaign. St. Cloud would add to their lead late in regulation as Peyton Mithmuangneua netted his fifth goal. Minot found some life with 1:30 left on the clock when Dawson logged his 10th tally this season with assists from Cayden Casey and Trevor Stachowiak to bring the Tauros within one marker. Finally, in the last minute of the final frame, Joel Lehtinen netted his 10th goal to send the game into overtime. O’Hanisian and Ketonen were credited with the helpers.
Four minutes into overtime, Emmons, on the rush, sniped from the top of circles for the OT winner. Emmons came up clutch, logging two goals late in the contest. Winning in overtime, the Tauros avoided the sweep, earning a 5-4 come-from-behind victory.
Next up the Tauros renew the Totten Trail Rivalry with the Bismarck Bobcats. The series kicks off Friday in Minot before heading to Bismarck on Saturday night. Tickets for Friday’s game are available in the Tauros Hockey Mobile App, through the “Tickets” tab atop this page, or by visiting the Tauros ticketing site.