By Jeremy Pike, minotauroshockey.com. MINOT, ND-
It was a weekend of records, new faces, and ultimately a pair of losses for the Central Division champion Minotauros. They were swept by the Bismarck Bobcats, a two-game losing streak that tied their season-high that had only occurred once before this season.
Yet beyond the results, there were incredible moments for players on the Tauros. Entering the weekend, defenseman Weston Knox had a plus/minus of +30, a mark that had never been met by a Tauros player in franchise history. Knox did not finish +30. He finished +31, establishing a new mark for the Tauros.
Knox wasn’t the only Tauros defender etching his name into the record books this weekend, either. Colby Woogk scored his 21st career goal on Friday night, the new career-high for a Tauros defenseman. There were moments for the youngest members of the Minotauros, too. Also on Friday night, both Murray Marvin-Cordes and Beck Picconatto scored their first NAHL goals.
Unfortunately, the Tauros simply weren’t able to take down the Bobcats. If that worries you, you simply need to take a look at the roster from each night to see that this was not necessarily the same team that played the majority of the season. WIth first place locked up, the Tauros under head coach Cody Campbell employed a lot of depth this weekend. It gave key players a chance to rest and heal while also giving some young players a bigger taste of NAHL hockey.
On Saturday night, the Tauros fell 5-2 to the Bobcats despite outshooting Bismarck 29-28 at the Pepsi Rink at the Maysa Arena. Late in the first period, the Bobcats opened the scoring as Kai Dunits led the Bobcats on a 2-on-1 rush and buried the rebound from his initial shot.
Less than four minutes into the second period, the Tauros tied it up on the power play. With Heath Nelson in the box for tripping, the Tauros had sustained offensive pressure and good puck rotation. Niklas Ketonen carried the puck into the high slot before dishing it out to a wide-open Jack O’Hanisain at the top of the faceoff circle. He one-timed the pass through traffic and into the back of the net. It was Ketonen’s 34th assist of the season and Rylan Jockims picked up his 25th assist as well.
The Bobcats retook the lead just before the halfway point in the period. Mathieu Bourgault got behind the Tauros defense on a breakaway courtesy of a long stretch pass from Landon Fandel that he banked off the wall. Bourgault was able to slip the puck five-hole on Tauros goalie Lukas Swedin as he appeared to cut toward the far post.
With less than three minutes remaining in the period, Tommy Cronin extended the Bobcats’ lead to two after he flipped a puck out front that took a wicked bounce that found the back of the net.
The Tauros found some life thanks to Ian Engel going to the box for slashing. Again, O’Hanisain capped off a nice sequence on the power play. John Small cut down the left-wing wall before finding O’Hanisain camped at the top of the Bobcat crease. O’Hanisain got his stick on the pass and redirected it just inside the far post. That was O’Hanisain’s second goal of the night and his 29th of the season. Small added his 23rd assist of the season, and Joel Lehtinen picked up his 36th.
Just before the whistle blew on the second, Jacob Ingstrup got called for checking from behind that put the Tauros down a man heading into the third.
That proved important as the Bobcats pounced only 28 seconds into the third with Kade Kohanski making it 4-2 on the power play.
The Tauros had two more cracks at the man advantage, including a long power play as Kohanski was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing with 11:27 gone in the third. Unfortunately, the Tauros could not solve Bobcats goalie Stephen Peck again, and the Bobcats made it 5-2 with an empty-net goal by Kyle Doll with 57 seconds remaining.
Friday night in Bismarck was more of a heartbreaker for the Tauros as they fell 5-4 in the shootout. Like they would Saturday, the Bobcats opened the scoring in the first period. With only two seconds remaining on Cayden Casey’s interference penalty, the Bobcats capped off a nice passing sequence with a Patrick Johnson one-timer.
The Tauros would tie the game early in the second, though. As noted earlier, Colby Woogk set the record for most goals by a Tauros defenseman in a career. He did it but paid a bit of a price. He found himself near the goal line and pounced on a loose puck in the crease. He tucked it home but went airborne and crashed into the right-wing wall face-first. He was able to get back to his feet after a moment and didn’t appear to even miss a shift.
Not only was it Woogk’s 21st goal of his career, it was his 18th goal of the season. Will Dawson picked up his 22nd assist of the year and Murray Marvin-Cordes added his second since rejoining the team late in the season.
Marvin-Cordes then scored his first goal with the Tauros and of his NAHL career after pouncing on a loose puck and shoveling it home 7:31 into the second period. Chuck Owens got his second assist of the season and Adam Mahler added his 16th assist of the season.
Then the Tauros extended the lead to 3-1 with just under eight minutes remaining in the period. Weston Knox got the puck just inside the blue line against the right-wing wall. He sped up ice and then cut in past multiple Bobcat defenders before putting the puck in the back of the net from the slot. It was Knox’s fifth goal of the season. Owens picked up his second assist of the night and the third of his career while Ian Spencer added his 16th assist of the season.
The Tauros would add their fourth goal only 1:31 into the third period as Beck Piccanatto’s long shot found a way through for his first career NAHL goal.
Unfortunately for the Tauros, what seemed such a jubilant atmosphere would turn sour over the remaining 18 minutes of the third. The Bobcats would score two power-play goals in less than a minute to cut the deficit to 4-3, both from Kade Kohanski.
Then with 31 seconds remaining in the third and the goalie pulled, Jake Peterson fired a tight-angle backhand that somehow got past Brady James to tie the game at four. Neither the Bobcats nor the Tauros were able to find a goal in the overtime period despite the Tauros mustering five shots to the Bobcats’ one.
Then in the shootout, Bobcats goalie Klayton Knapp stopped all three shooters he faced while Evan Hunter’s goal proved to be the difference.
Next up? The Robertson Cup Playoffs. As the Central Division champions, the Tauros will be at home to open the playoffs on Friday April 19th. Tickets for Games 1 and 2 are available through the “Tickets” tab atop this page or by visiting tickets.minotauroshockey.com.