WATERTOWN, SD. – After sweeping Watertown in their home opening weekend, Bismarck traveled across the border for the Shamrocks home opener weekend, where the Bobcats split the two games to stay in the early race for first in the Central Division.
Friday: Watertown 2, Bismarck 0
In a sold out Prairie Lakes Ice Arena, Watertown and Bismarck were locked in a defensive standoff for over two periods before the Shamrocks were able to solve Linus Vieillard.
Bismarck came out firing in the first two periods, outshooting Watertown 23-11 through the opening 40 minutes, but could not sneak one past Mason Gudridge.
While the Bobcats had more shots, the Shamrocks had the higher-danger chances, including a few short-handed that Vieillard was up to the task for.
The third periods in last weekend’s series continued to look the same on Friday, as Watertown got an early goal from Owen Chartier to take the lead and never look back, winning 2-0 with a 27-save shutout from their netminder.
The loss marked the first time this season where Bismarck surrendered the game’s first goal, and just the second time they did not score on the power-play, going 0-for-3 on the day.
Saturday: Bismarck 5, Watertown 2
The Bobcats responded to a 2-0 blanking with a full team effort on Saturday, cruising to a 5-2 victory to salvage a split against the Shamrocks.
For the second straight game, Watertown struck first, as Bismarck was almost waiting for the game to come to them and were burnt by the Shamrocks.
From that moment on however, it was all beige and black, as Jake Caffrey and Teddy Richardson scored in the period to take a 2-1 lead while Casey Kirley’s squad were held shotless after they took the early lead.
Bismarck continued to pile on the pressure, scoring another two tallies in the second period before Jordan Brothers stopped the bleeding to make it 4-2 after 40 minutes.
Garret Roth’s squad was skating circles around Watertown throughout the contest, dominating in the shot department 46-18 by the end of the game, and held Watertown shotless for nearly 15 minutes in the final frame.
A third goal from Richardson secured his fifth career NAHL hat-trick and the third hat-trick already on the year for Bismarck, as the Bobcats took Saturday’s bout 5-2.
The Bobcats come back home this week to take on the reigning Central Division Champions, the Austin Bruins, in another crucial early season battle between top NAHL contenders.