Bobcats Finish Weekend with Split after Minot Rally
MINOT, ND – The Bismarck Bobcats could not build on an early lead and saw the Minot Minotauros surge by for a 4-1 win Saturday at Maysa Arena, halting the Cats’ brief win streak at two.
Mike Dockry gave the Bobcats the lead at 1-0 late in the first on the rush, tucking a snap shot between Minot goalie Tyler Parks and the short post for his second of the weekend.
Bobcat goalie Aaron Nelson was an early difference-maker for the Bobcats, making 15 saves in the first period including a stop on a short-handed breakaway by Tauros forward Steve Sherman to keep it 1-0 in favor of the visitors through 20 minutes.
Minot turned up their transition game in the second, though, scoring back-to-back goals on the break from Denis Dalidovich and Cameron Rowat to seize a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
In the third period, the Bobcats ran into penalty trouble: taking three penalties, including a delay of game assessed to Nelson for knocking off his net in the process of making a save on a Bobcat penalty kill to put the Cats on a 5-on-3 kill.
The Bobcats could not erase the 5-on-3 awarded to the league’s sixth-rated power play unit as David Dalbec buried a Jadin Martin rebound to push the lead to 3-1 in favor of the Tauros.
Moments later, Martin cashed in Minot’s third transition strike of the night, redirecting a centering feed from Lucas Oliver over Nelson to tack on major insurance to the tune of a 4-1 Minotauros lead.
Nelson suffered just his second regulation defeat of the season while Parks improved to 5-6-0 in net for the Tauros.
With the loss, the Bobcats slipped back below .500 at 9-10-1.
The Bobcats return home Wednesday to open a busy holiday week as they host the Aberdeen Wings Wednesday at the VFW Sports Center for a 7:15 contest. Minot pays their first visit of the 2012-13 season for the Cats’ fourth-annual Thanksgiving Day game before the Bobcats have a home-and-home against the Brookings Blizzard, culminating in a home date with the second-place Blizzard on Saturday.
Tickets for all three games are on sale by calling the Bobcat Box Office at 222-3300; fans can buy and print tickets online right now at BismarckBobcats.com.
Wednesday’s holiday week opener will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide on the official internet television partner of the NAHL, FASTHockey, at http://nahl.fasthockey.com. Pregame coverage gets under way at 6:45 PM.
Pro-rated season tickets for the 2012-13 season are now on sale—and going fast! Call the Bobcat Hockey office today at (701) 222-3300 to reserve your seats for another great season of Championship Entertainment.