By Andrew Lennox www.minotauroshockey.com
Mason City, IA—The Minot Minotauros have had a busy week that started with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Bismarck Bobcats on Tuesday at the Pepsi Rink. Minot then hit the road for a two-game set against the North Iowa Bulls. Going into Friday’s contest, Minot had yet to lose to the Bulls, beating them six times.
Friday, surprisingly, the Bulls struck first 13:25 into the second period after a scoreless first frame. Forward Jack Seaverson tallied the marker on the power play while Tauros Jordan Gibbs sat in the penalty box for checking from behind. North Iowa’s goal seemed to spark Minot’s offense as they netted four unanswered goals before the end of the middle frame.
At 14:13 of period two, defenseman Ty James scored Minot’s first goal in the contest. The goal was extra special for James since it was his first junior hockey goal, and he registered it in Iowa, his home state. Will Dawson and Cayden Casey grabbed the assists. Under a minute later, Colby Woogk would make it 2-1, recording his 14th in this year’s campaign with the assists provided by Niklas Ketonen and Chad Muller. John Small kept the Tauros scoring party rolling as he recorded his ninth goal. Trevor Stachowiak and Nicholas Sewecke added the helpers with 3:03 left. John Emmons scored the final goal in the middle frame. For Emmons, it was the ninth time he’s scored, while Ketonen collected his second helper in the contest for his 30th assist this season. Jack O’Hanisian earned the secondary assist.
Minot put the game even more out of reach at 5-1 when Colby Woogk blasted a seeing-eye shot from the point for his second tally of the evening, beating Bulls goaltender Santo Simmchen. Ketonen grabbed his third assist while Rylan Jockims added the secondary at 5:42.
Neither team would score again in regulation, giving the Tauros a 5-1 win. With the victory, Minot was just two points away from clinching home ice for the first round of the Robertson Cup playoffs.
Saturday saw the Tauros dominate play once again, as they outshot the Bulls 58-16. Tauros Captain Trevor Stachowiak kicked off scoring in the first period on the power play, firing a shot into the top of the cage, beating Bulls netminder Connor Graham at 12:03. Knox and Dawson dished out the helpers.
In the middle period, Stachowiak scored for the second time in the contest for his 13th tally. Knox found Stachowiak just above the Bulls crease for a one-timer, beating tender Connor Graham at 11:58. The Tauros’ Adam Mahler provided the insurance marker, scoring on North Iowa’s empty net with 1:02 left in regulation.
Minot’s Lukas Swedin faced just 16 shots, but he earned the 3-0 shutout. With the road sweep, Minot has won all eight games against North Iowa in the 2023-24 season. The victories clinch home ice for the first round of the playoffs. Tonight’s win set a franchise single-season record with 39 wins.
Minot has next weekend off, but they will return to the ice the weekend of March 29-30th to face off against St. Cloud at home in the Magic City.