Nelson, Bobcat Defense Blank Minot
BISMARCK, ND – The Bismarck Bobcat defense locked down and Aaron Nelson rang up 19 saves en route to a 2-0 shutout of the Minot Minotauros on New Year’s Eve at the VFW Sports Center.
Cory Chapman got the Bobcat attack started early, burning a snap shot over the blocker of Minot goalie Tyler Parks to push the home side ahead 1-0 with 14:48 remaining in the opening frame. There the score would stay heading into the first intermission.
In the second period, Patrick Moore doubled the lead to 2-0 just 2:24 into the stanza, ripping a rising shot past the 6’6” Parks’ glove in transition.
“I couldn’t believe Patty scored the way he did,” marveled Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, whose team will carry a 19-12-2 record into 2013. “I thought he’d try and go back to the stick side, but he went high glove against a guy who doesn’t give up a lot glove side.”
Parks turned away numerous other chances for the Cats, including a short-post save on a redirect from Joe Giordano on the power play to keep the margin at 2-0.
Nelson took over in the third period, bringing the capacity crowd of 1,412 to its feet with a point-blank denial of Minot blueliner Matt Audette with 9:00 to go followed by a diving poke 30 feet out of his net to diffuse a would-be breakaway for Denis Dalidovich.
“I saw [Dalidovich] coming hard and if I didn’t get out there it would’ve been a good scoring chance,” recalled Nelson, who has recorded three of his four career shutouts against Minot, “so I had to beat him to the puck. I just reached out and managed to get it through to Nate [Repensky].”
A late penalty on the Tauros followed by a stingy, shot-blocking defensive effort from the Bobcats in the final minute and a half curtailed Minot’s hopes of a comeback and Nelson stopped a floating shot from Scott Dornbrock at the horn to preserve his third shutout of the season.
Parks made 26 saves but could not avoid his 10th loss of 2012-13—just his third in the Tauros’ last 16 games.
The Bobcats open 2013 with a home contest against the Brookings Blizzard Saturday at the VFW Sports Center.
Saturday’s inter-Dakota matchup will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide on the official internet television partner of the NAHL, FASTHockey, at http://nahl.fasthockey.com. Pregame coverage gets under way at 6:45 PM.
Pro-rated season tickets for the 2012-13 season are now on sale—and going fast! Call the Bobcat Hockey office today at (701) 222-3300 to reserve your seats for another great season of Championship Entertainment.