The Bismarck Bobcats hopped on the bus to close out the first half of the season in Watertown against the Shamrocks.
The 1st period was a low-offense period as the Shamrocks did a really nice job of clogging up the neutral zone and not allowing the Bobcats to use the middle of the ice. It would be Watertown getting the only goal of the period off of a designed faceoff play. Grady Dimberio had the puck at the right-wing half wall and fired the puck home blocker side on Dane Callaway to give the home side the 1-0 advantage. The Shamrocks would take the lead into the intermission and take the lead in shots 8-7.
The Bobcats generated more chances in the 2nd period, but the Bobcats still didn’t have many grade A chances as they outshot the Shamrocks 11-8 in the middle frame, but couldn’t find the back of the net. The buzzer would sound ending the 2nd period as Watertown would take the 1-0 lead heading into the 3rd period.
Moving ahead to the 3rd period, it would be Watertown dominating the opening 10 minutes as they struck twice in a span of 1:33 seconds to take a 3-0 lead. The Cats had the response, but it was too little too late. With the goaltender pulled and on the man advantage, George Poirier pounded home a rebound to deny the Shamrocks the shutout and bring the Cats to within two, with just under three minutes remaining. Watertown would tack on the empty net goal to seal the 4-1 victory.
Callaway stopped 20/23 that came his way in the loss.
Moving ahead to Saturday’s contest, Callaway got the nod in net once again as the Cats looked to force the weekend split. From the get-go, the Bobcats were back to playing their style of hockey. All it took was 4 minutes for Bismarck to find the opening goal as Poirier fired a hard backhand shot, beating JJ Salajko shorthanded to give the Cats the 1-0 lead. Later in the period, the Bobcats would strike once again. A beautiful passing display and a great showing of poise with the puck saw Jimmy Dodig receive the puck at the blue line and he one-timed the puck home into the back of the net making it 2-0 Bobcats with under a minute to play. The Cats would take the 2-0 lead into the break.
The Bobcats would continue their momentum in the 2nd period as Noah Ziskie one-timed a puck into the back of the net on the power play to make it 3-0 Cats with 16 minutes remaining in the middle frame. That was Bismarck’s 11th power play goal in their last 6 games. Bismarck would continue to dominate and be rewarded for their forecheck pressure. Ben Rakowski got behind the Shamrock defense and was in on a breakaway. He made the goaltender bite and tucked it home around the pad, making it 4-0 Bobcats. They would take that lead into the 3rd period of play.
All was seemingly elementary in the 3rd as the Cats limited Watertown to 9 shots in the period and Callaway shut the door, notching his 2nd shutout of the season with 25 stops in the contest. With the Bobcats win, they split the weekend series and are in 2nd place heading into the Christmas Break.
The Cats will be back on home ice for their next contest on New Years Eve against the Minot Minotauros. Puck drop is set for 7:15 P.M. tickets are available at tickets.bismarckbobcats.com or by calling/texting the Bobcat Hotline at 390-7422!