The Bismarck Bobcats hopped back on the bus for a five-hour bus ride to St. Cloud to take on the Norsemen.
Starting with Friday’s contest, the Bobcats would get on the board first, early in the opening frame. While on the man advantage, the Bobcats moved the puck extremely well, as Cooper Williams tapped it home back door to give Bismarck the 1-0 lead just under 3 minutes in. The Bobcats did a nice job defensively, limiting St. Cloud to 6 shots in the opening period, with only 2 of those coming 5 on 5. The Cats would take the 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Moving ahead to the 2nd period, it was a quick response out of the gates for the Norsemen. Defenseman Avry Shaw was allowed to walk in from the blue line to inside of the hash marks where he wristed one blocker side, off the post and in on Dane Callaway to knot the game up at 1. Later in the period, Bismarck’s offense sparked once again. Charlie Kresl received a pass from Eddie Revenig, toe-dragged into the offensive zone and ripped a shot into the back of the net to restore the Bobcat lead. Yet again, the Norsemen came back firing away as just two minutes later, Gabe Gallivan saw a sea of bodies in front of the net and threw the puck toward the net, beating Callaway to make it a 2-2 contest with 12:41 in the 2nd period. While the offense would stay steady, the goalies would be shut down from there. Both teams would head to the dressing room tied at 2.
The 3rd period was extremely slow offensively. Just 5 shots combined through the first 13 minutes of the period were fired on net. Late in the contest the Bobcats seemed to have the edge, and on a broken play the puck found Williams’ stick backdoor and he fired it into the empty net to make it a 3-2 contest with under 2 minutes to play. St. Cloud was unable to respond and the Bobcats came away with the two points and the victory.
Dane Callaway notched another victory in net stopping 17/19 that came his way.
Moving ahead to Saturday’s contest, the Norsemen got off to an amazing start striking twice in the opening 13 minutes to take a 2-0 lead over the Bobcats, including a goal just 11 seconds in. The Bobcats, however, always find a way to keep themselves in it. Just under 3 minutes remaining in the period, Patch Cronin deked around a defender, cut into the middle and fired home his 1st career NAHL goal to cut the deficit to 1. Bismarck wasn’t done there as just 46 seconds later, Mark Evans was the recipient of a fantastic rebound out in front and he made no mistake pounding that into the back of the net to tie the game up at 2 going into the intermission.
The Bobcats once again picked up right where they left off. Just 54 seconds into the period, Williams was sent forward on a breakaway and he opened up the 5-hole on Liden to give the Bobcats their 1st lead of the contest. Bismarck was dominating the middle frame and added on to their lead as Ben Osiashvili was able to tally his 2nd of the season to give the Bobcats a 4-2 lead which they would take into the intermission. Shots that period read 15-6 Bobcats.
Skating into the 3rd period, on the first shot of the period for St. Cloud, they were able to fire the puck home just 5 minutes into the period to bring them back within one. The Bobcats were relentless, however. Just 23 seconds later Osiashvili once again notched another tally, this time his 2nd of the contest on a rebound backdoor. The Cats would then close the deal on the empty-net tally as George Poirier netted another goal sealing the deal for the Cats, 6-3.
After the weekend series the Bobcats improved to 13-5-1 on the season. Callaway notched his 5th and 6th victories of the season on the weekend effort.
The Cats are back on home ice this upcoming weekend for Military Appreciation Weekend presented by VFW Post 1326. Specialty jerseys will be auctioned off at the conclusion of Saturday’s contest! Be sure to get your tickets by texting/calling the Bobcat Hotline at 701-390-7422 or log onto tickets.bismarckbobcats.com