FRISCO, TX – First Bismarck Bobcats forward Dominic Panetta racked up five points while the Bobcats swept away the North Iowa Outlaws, then he picked up this week’s Sherwood NAHL Central Division Player of the Week award.
“It’s nice to get an individual award,” said Panetta, “but the best thing to come out of this weekend was getting the four points in the standings and creating some separation between ourselves and [second-place] Owatonna.”
The rookie forward assisted twice in the Bobcats’ 3-2 Friday night win over the Outlaws before getting a goal and two assists as the home team broke out the brooms with a 5-2 victory over North Iowa on Saturday.
The wins pushed the Bobcats’ (18-8-6, 42 pts) divisional lead to a season-high nine points over the second-place Express (15-11-3, 33 pts).
Through 32 games so far, Panetta is third on the Bobcats in scoring with 12 goals and 17 assists—good for 16th among all NAHL scorers.
“Dominic is off to an outstanding start for a first-year player,” said Bobcats head coach Byron Pool. “He brings a tremendous amount of energy to the rink every night and, if he continues at this pace, he should have a great second half.”
Panetta’s award win marks the fifth time a Bobcat has secured Player of the Week honors; the Grand Rapids, Mich., native joins teammates Sam Rendle, Sean McKenzie and Nick Jensen as winners of the award—Rendle earning the hardware twice.
The Bobcats have the Christmas weekend off before returning to regular season action on New Years Eve with a 7:15 PM contest at the VFW Sports Center against the rival Alexandria Blizzard.
The game will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide at BismarckBobcats.com via B2 Networks. The pre-game show starts at 6:45 PM.
You won\’t want to miss any of the games this season, so order your Season Tickets, Family Packs and Group Nights today by calling the Bobcat Hockey Office at 701-222-3300 or by e-mailing the office for more information at gobobcathockey@aol.com.
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