The Bismarck Bobcats made the trip to Forest Lake, Minnesota to take on the Minnesota Mallards for the first time this season.
Friday night both teams came out of the gates hot with some great chances. It would be the Bobcats getting on the scoresheet first. Defenseman Eddie Revenig fired a shot from the left point and Nate Garski found the deflection in front for his first career North American Hockey League goal to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. The Mallards would respond late in the period as the Bobcats turned the puck over in the D-Zone on the power play and Drew Bowe picked up the puck and fired a beautiful shot under the crossbar to tie the game up at 1. In the dying seconds, the Bobcats would take the lead once again courtesy of a shot from the high slot from Royce Pietila, who also notched his first career NAHL goal on that shot. The Bobcats would take a 2-1 lead into the 1st intermission.
The 2nd period started out great for the visitors as the Cats had a beautiful passing play through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. Ben Rakowski received the puck between the hash marks, worked his way toward the crease and backhanded the puck into the back of the net to make it a 3-1 game. The Mallards wouldn’t go away easily as 11 seconds later on the power play, they brought it back within one as Bowe snuck behind the defense and deflected the puck into the back of the net to make it 3-2. In the last minute and a half of the 2nd, the Mallards would get a breakaway as Mitch Vanderwey got behind the defense and beat Bobcats goaltender Kai Weigel to tie the game up at 3. This would be the 2nd time in 3 games that the Bobcats would enter the 3rd period tied.
The Bobcats would strike with an insurance goal early in the 3rd on the man advantage. Revenig rifled a puck toward the net, and Jimmy Dodig pounded home the rebound for his first NAHL goal of his young career. That restored the Bobcat lead and made it a 4-3 contest. The Mallards would hound the Bobcats after that, but the defense and goaltending came up big by blocking shots and keeping the puck out of the back of the net. Finally with 0.4 seconds remaining, Cooper Williams found the empty net for his team-leading 3rd of the season to seal the deal.
Kai Weigel was superb, stopping 26/29 for his first win of the season.
Moving ahead to Saturday’s contest, the Bobcats looked to earn their first weekend sweep of the 2025-26 season and hop back over .500.
The Cats came out of the gates with force and scored the opening goal of the contest on the man advantage. Williams sniped home the puck bar-down to give the Bobcats the 1-0 lead which they would take into the 1st intermission. Bismarck outshot the Mallards in the opening period 16-5.
Looking at the 2nd period, the Bobcats picked up right where they left off. Ben Osiashvili set up Fanda Broz for a 2 on 0 and Broz found Mark Evans with a cross-ice pass to make it 2-0. The Mallards would respond on the man advantage as Bowe notched his 3rd goal in 2 games, but the Cats had an immediate response as Charlie Kresl notched a power play goal a minute and a half later to bring the Cats back up by 2. The Bobcats would take the 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd period.
Bismarck found themselves on the power play once again and struck as Noah Ziskie notched his first of the season to extend the lead. Williams would tack on his 2nd on the breakaway just a few minutes later to make it 5-1 on a nice shot blocker-side. While the Mallards scored on the power play to bring themselves back within 3, the Bobcats tacked on a shorthanded empty-net goal from Kresl to get the victory and the weekend sweep.
Weigel was victorious in both games this weekend and kept the Bobcats in both contests.
The Bobcats are back on home ice next weekend against the St. Cloud Norsemen. Puck drop is set for 7:15 P.M. both nights. Tickets for future Bobcat games and season tickets are available by logging onto www.BismarckBobcats.com or by calling the Bobcat Hotline at 390-7422.