BISMARCK, ND – The Bismarck Bobcats will wrap up their second straight campaign as the top team in the Central Division with a two-game home series against the fourth-place Albert Lea Thunder at the VFW Sports Center starting Friday night.
If the current seeds in the Central Division hold up, the series will be a preview of the Bobcats’ first-round Robertson Cup Playoff matchup.
“As it stands right now, it’s looking like we’ll be playing Albert Lea in the first round, so we want to be able to come out and play well against them this weekend,” said Bobcats forward Aaron Quick, who is set to return from injury to the Bismarck lineup this weekend. “For us, the playoffs start Friday.”
At 18-32-5, the Thunder are five points ahead of the North Iowa Outlaws (15-34-6) for the Central’s final playoff spot—which is also the final playoff spot that has not yet been clinched in the NAHL postseason race. The Thunder are one win or an Outlaw loss away from sealing their first ever postseason berth.
In nine games head-to-head this season, the Bobcats are 6-2-1 against the Thunder, including a 3-0-1 mark at home.
Bobcats head coach Byron Pool doesn’t put a lot of stock in the regular season results with the postseason just around the corner.
“The Thunder are a really dangerous team,” said Pool, “and I hope all our guys realize that. Sometimes when you have a team that only won four games the previous season, they can be easy to overlook. We need to remember that this is the team that handed us our worst loss of the year (7-3 on December 5th).”
Fans will have a chance to own their own piece of the Bobcats’ second straight Central Division regular season championship both Friday and Saturday nights as the team will be auctioning off both their gold and black uniforms that the players have worn all year long.
The gold uniforms will be auctioned following Friday’s contest while the black jerseys will be on the block after Saturday’s season finale.
Both games start at 7:15 PM; prior to Saturday’s game fans will also be treated to free samples of Russell’s Reserve Ribs from Cloverdale Meats.
Friday’s game will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide at BismarckBobcats.com via B2 Networks. The pre-game show starts at 6:45 PM.
You won\’t want to miss any of the games this season, so order your pro-rated Season Tickets, Family Packs and Group Nights today by calling the Bobcat Hockey Office at 701-222-3300 or by e-mailing the office for more information at gobobcathockey@aol.com.
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