Special Teams Falter as Bobcats Routed
BISMARCK, ND – The Bismarck Bobcats gave up three power play goals—including two on 5-on-3 penalty kills—en route to a 7-0 defeat at the hands of the in-state rival Minot Minotauros Friday at the VFW Sports Center.
It didn’t take long for the Bobcats to fall behind Friday, as Minot opened the scoring 17 seconds into the game on a 2-on-1 that Troy Degler finished from James Mathias to post the Tauros to a 1-0 lead before most of the crowd of 1,279 had found their seats.
Minot goalie Tanner Holmes turned the tide of the game with 12:11 to go in the first as the Cats were bidding for an equalizer, diving to his left to deny a one-timer by Jared Pike.
“I thought we actually settled down and had some good chances to tie the game in the first,” stated Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, “but Holmes made some big saves and we couldn’t find any consistency to carry the momentum we generated in the middle part of the period.”
A late 5-on-3 for the Minotauros dealt the home side a critical blow as Blake Lizotte lasered a short-range shot off Bobcat goalie Alex Bitsakis and in with five seconds left in the first to make it 2-0 Minot after one.
The levee broke for the Bobcats in the last 12 minutes of the second as the Tauros took a two-goal game and blew it wide open on goals from Christian Mohs, Jared Brandt, Chase Springman and James Mathias. It stood as the Cats’ worst period of the season and gave Minot a 6-0 edge through 40 minutes.
Rasmus Sorgardt wrapped up the scoring with just over two minutes left in the game on another 5-on-3, blasting a one-timer through traffic that beat relief goalie Hunter Shepard for the final margin of 7-0.
Replaced after Brandt’s goal in the second, Bitsakis took his fifth loss of the season on just eight saves; Shepard didn’t factor into the decision, stopping 12 of 15 shots that came his way. Holmes wrapped up his first junior shutout behind 27 saves.
Now the Bobcats head up US-83 to look for a home-and-home split against the Tauros as the weekend wraps up Saturday with a 7:35pm rematch at Maysa Arena.
Live coverage of Saturday’s weekend finale will begin at 7:05pm locally on SuperTalk 1270, KLXX-AM, the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, and worldwide online at NAHL.FASTHockey.com, the official web television partner of the North American Hockey League.
Though the 2014-15 season is now under way, there is still time to order season tickets for the year; fans who want to lock in their seats for the entire campaign should call the Bobcat office at 222-3300 today!