Penalties Haunt Bobcats in Home Loss
February 13, 2016 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Bismarck Bobcats News Release
BISMARCK, ND - A run of seven straight penalties yielded the deciding goal Friday as the Bismarck Bobcats fell 3-1 to the rival Minot Minotauros at the VFW Sports Center to slip one point out of first place in the Central Division.
Tied 1-1 in the second, the Bobcats took three penalties in the second followed by four more in the third; Minot capitalized on their fifth power play of the night with 10:34 left in the final frame off a James LaDouce one-timer that Bobcat goalie Hunter Shepard could not recover to in time that made it 2-1 favoring the visitors.
Minot's defense smothered the Cats from there, only allowing four shots to find their way to netminder Gunner Rivers-all denied-in the final 10-plus minutes.
Tyler Jeanson added an extra layer of frustration for the Bobcats-with Shepard for the extra attacker-in the waning seconds, firing a 160-foot shot into the empty net for his second score of the night with less than a second to go on the clock to seal the game at 3-1 for Minot.
It was the Bobcats who scored first Friday, pulling ahead 1-0 with 13:33 to go in the first as Jared Pike redirected an Aaron Herdt shot on the power play that beat Rivers glove side for Pike's 15th tally of the year.
A broken play allowed the Minotauros to tie the game at one just 1:07 into the middle stanza: when Joe Tyran blocked a centering pass by Christian Mohs, the puck rolled off the Bobcat co-captain and straight to Jeanson for a tap-in on a wide-open net as Shepard tried to rally from his initial angle on the play. Of Jeanson's eight goals in 2015-16, five have come at the expense of the Cats.
Shepard made 19 saves but could not avoid his first loss of 2016; Rivers remained unbeaten in regulation at 3-0-1 since coming to Minot in a pre-deadline trade with Odessa thanks to 27 stops.
With Friday's result, the Bobcats finish their season-high home stand with a mark of 5-2-0 and will now head out for three straight road games starting Saturday with a 7:30pm duel with the fourth-place Brookings Blizzard.
Saturday's road contest will be broadcast live 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-with pregame coverage starting at 7:00pm.
Season tickets are still on sale for the 2015-16 season at a pro-rated price; if you want to beat the rush of over 40,000 fans for this year, now is the time! Call 222-3300 to reserve your seats today.
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