Mason City, IA – The Minotauros went to North Iowa looking to improve their position in the playoff race but a bad third period Saturday night saw them fail to walk away with the sweep they needed to pull closer to Aberdeen.
On Friday night the Tauros jumped out to an early lead scoring just 4:51 into the game with captain Trevor Stachowiak firing a shot off the cross bar an in just 4:51 into the contest. The Tauros would pour it on for the rest of the period striking three more times to take a 4-0 lead into the locker room.
Colby Joseph picked up his tenth of the season redirecting a pass from Nick O’Hanisain while the Tauros were on the power play to make it 2-0 Tauros. Chase LaPinta made it 3-0 with his 29th of the season when he retrieved his own rebound and lifted a backhander in. Blake Steenerson then added his first junior goal late in the period off of a feed from Joe Blackley who had two assists in the period.
From there the Tauros leaned on goaltender Noah Rupprecht getting outshot 28-15 the rest of the game. The Bulls did not break through until early in the third when a puck bounced off of Logan Dombrowsky’s chest and in. A couple more goals with less than five minutes left for North Iowa increased the drama but with just over two minutes left Joseph was able to draw a penalty sending the Tauros to the power play helping them kill the rest of the clock.
Saturday night the first period passed scoreless and while the Tauros were outshot 17-10 in the frame they had the better of the scoring chances.
The offenses exploded in the second period starting just 1:08 in with John Emmons ripping a shot just over Mitch Day’s shoulder to give the Tauros the lead. Jackson Bisson would knot the game at one 7:31 later with a quick shot off the draw. In the middle portion of the period the teams would trade shorthanded goals first Kolby Amici on a hard working goal stole the puck behind the Bulls net and cut to the front beating Day five hole with a backhand. Just over two minutes later Tristan Kimmen was awarded a penalty shot after it was ruled he was slashed on a breakaway and he converted to once again tie the game at two. But with just 22 seconds left in the period Nick Sewecke battled in front and on his third whack picked up his fifth of the season to make it 3-2 Tauros heading into the third.
The Bulls would tie the game early in the third but LaPinta would answer back restoring the lead with 12:35 to play in regulation. The goal was LaPinta’s 30th of the season making him just the second Tauro ever to post 30 markers in a single year. A pair of miscues however just 18 second apart late in the period would see the Tauros fall behind for the first time all weekend as the Bulls Nolan Abraham and Simone Dadie would give the Bulls a 5-4 lead. Try as they might the Tauros could not find the equalizer and had to settle for a split on the weekend.
Next up for the Tauros is a weekend trip to Aberdeen for a battle for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. After that the Tauros will return home for their final regular season home series of the season on April 7th and 8th against the Austin Bruins. Tickets for those games are available by clicking the “Tickets” tab atop this page or by visiting tickets.minotauroshockey.com.