NAHL North Iowa Bulls

Bulls Endure Rough Ride in 6-1 Loss to Minotauros Saturday

Published on October 17, 2021 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
North Iowa Bulls News Release


MASON CITY, Iowa - In their last three meetings, the North Iowa Bulls have been able to tame their Central Division cattle companions, but the Bulls found themselves in a rough ride Saturday night against the Minot Minotauros. After enjoying some hot starts of late, the Minotauros scored three goals in the opening 4:23 at the Mason City Arena, spurring them to a 6-1 victory and snapping a three-game losing skid against North Iowa.

Minot would pick up the game's first six shots on goal, and score on three of the game's first four. A goal for the Minotauros at the game's 37-second mark would prove to be an ominous start, as Trevor Stachowiak snapped one from the right-wing circle underneath Hunter Garvey to get the scoring started.

Two goals in 51 seconds would threaten to break the game open - Cole Mickel stretched the puck through neutral ice to find Zack Simon, who deked the puck past Garvey's left leg for the 2-0 lead at the 3:32 mark. At 4:23, a toss from the left wing caught Jaksen Panzer along the goal line, and Huston Karpman was able to control the ricochet off of Panzer's stick for another goal.

Despite the slow start, the Bulls got their share of chances in the first period, taking the 11-10 shots-on-goal advantage through a period. After battling for most of the period to get on the board, North Iowa did it with a fraction of a second left on a power play at 13:01, with Joey Potter's shot from the left-wing faceoff circle clipping Simone Dadie and bounding into the net past Zach Sandy.

The Minotauros got it back on a man-advantage of their own with 1:12 left in the period - as the Bulls worked to wipe away a holding infraction to Greg Japchen, Panzer found Karpman again in the right-wing circle, and his wrister beat Garvey to push the lead to 4-1 going to the second intermission.

Minot was able to break the game open in the third, starting on a 5-on-3 at the 32-second mark - Cole Mickel's shot from the left-wing circle caught Colby Joseph in front of the net and popped off of his hands into the net to push the lead to four goals. With 8:49 remaining, a short pass across the slot from Joseph caught Tom Friden in front of the North Iowa net, and the deflection found its way into the cage to cap the scoring for the night.

North Iowa did enjoy some good news on the evening, seeing Chris Carroll's point streak stretch to 10 games thanks to his assist on Dadie's goal. The power play goal also snapped a stretch of 31 unsuccessful power play chances for the Bulls, giving them a power play marker in Central Division play for the first time.

Garvey took the loss with 32 saves on 38 Minotauro shots, picking up his first regulation loss with the Bulls. After being saddled with four straight losses to open the season, Sandy earned his first win with 32 saves on 33 North Iowa shots. Minot closed out the night 2-for-7 on the power play and improved its record to 4-7-1-0 on the year, while North Iowa ended the night at 1-for-5, taking its first Saturday loss of the year and dropping to 8-3-0-1. The Austin Bruins' win over the Bismarck Bobcats evened up the Central Division race, with the Bruins holding a game in hand and taking the lead on percentage points.

Next up for North Iowa is a visit to the Aberdeen Wings, with whom the Bulls split their opening weekend of the Central Division schedule. The opening puck drops in Aberdeen, South Dakota on Friday and Saturday night are both slated for 7:15 p.m.

Minot 3 1 2 - 6

North Iowa 0 1 0 - 1

1st Period-1, Minot, Stachowiak 2 (Schwenninger), 0:37. 2, Minot, Simon 4 (Mickel, Freiji), 3:32. 3, Minot, Karpman 7 (Panzer), 4:23. Penalties-Joseph Mnt (hooking-minor), 6:06; Scott Nio (holding-minor), 15:15.

2nd Period-4, North Iowa, Dadie 2 (Potter, Carroll), 13:01 (PP). 5, Minot, Karpman 8 (Panzer, Joseph), 18:48 (PP). Penalties-Johnson Mnt (checking from behind-minor), 5:54; Stachowiak Mnt (slashing-minor), 11:01; Mesic Nio (holding-minor), 14:03; Japchen Nio (holding-minor), 17:28; Dombrowsky Nio (fighting(instigator)-minor), 19:21; Karpman Mnt (fighting-major, fighting-10 misc), 19:37; Sweeney Nio (fighting-major, fighting-10 misc), 19:37.

3rd Period-6, Minot, Mickel 3 (Joseph, Schwenninger), 0:32 (PP). 7, Minot, Fridén 1 (Joseph, Fridén), 11:11 (PP). Penalties-Cline Nio (tripping-minor), 0:08; Vlasich Nio (head contact-minor), 3:59; Nesburg Mnt (slashing-minor), 7:16; Dadie Nio (boarding-minor), 8:07; Westlund Mnt (cross checking-minor), 13:12; Freiji Mnt (roughing-minor), 13:49; Coughlin Nio (roughing-minor), 13:49; Boxer Nio (checking from behind-minor), 17:47.

Shots on Goal-Minot 10-15-13-38. North Iowa 11-8-14-33.

Power Play Opportunities-Minot 3 / 7; North Iowa 1 / 5.

Goalies-Minot, Sandy 1-4-0-0 (33 shots-32 saves). North Iowa, Garvey 4-1-0-1 (38 shots-32 saves).

A-973

Referees-C. Harrington.

Linesmen-Zach Carson, Reilly Hickey.

Check out the North Iowa Bulls Statistics

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North American Hockey League Stories from October 17, 2021


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