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NAHL North Iowa Bulls

Seesaw Battle Swings Bulls' Way in Shootout

October 2, 2022 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
North Iowa Bulls News Release


MASON CITY, Iowa - Last season, overtime luck was not on the North Iowa Bulls' side. The Bulls went to the extra session 12 times, prevailing just twice.

The early sample size is small, but North Iowa is off to a good start in its second season in the North American Hockey League. The Bulls nabbed an overtime win in a preseason game at Aberdeen, and picked up a shootout victory Saturday night at the Mason City Arena, holding off the Austin Bruins by a 5-4 mark.

North Iowa got out to an impressive start after picking up a 3-2 win in Austin on Friday night. The Bulls snagged two goals in the opening 20 minutes, taking the lead with 5:46 left in the first period on a power play goal from Byron Hartley, and adding one with 3:06 left when Cayden Casey cleaned up a rebound in front of the Bruins' net.

The first five minutes of the second period, though, saw Austin catapult back into the game. Dylan Cook got right to work at the 50-second mark, putting the Bruins on the board with just 20 seconds left on a power play following a hooking call against Carter Theissen. Matt Desiderio followed it up by hitting corner targets twice in the following minutes, putting a puck over Erik Chaffe's right shoulder at 2:33 of the period and off the iron over his left shoulder at 4:21.

Mitchell Day entered the net, and the Bulls re-entered the lead late in the period. Byron Hartley found Max Scott on the weak side for the tying one-timer on the power play with 5:05 left in the period, and Justin Mexico scored on a penalty shot with 1:17 left in the period to take the 4-3 lead to the locker room.

The lead would not last - Walter Zacher tipped in a shot from Damon Furuseth on a Bruins power play with 6:31 remaining, erasing the Bulls' lead for a second time.

North Iowa fired off three of the four shots in the overtime period, but it took a shootout effort with goals from Casey and Scott to come away with the win. Gavin Morrissey had a goal in the shootout's second round for Austin.

The power play numbers were impressive, with the Bulls tallying goals on two of their four chances and the Bruins posting a goal on two of their six. Austin picked up the shots-on-goal advantage for the second straight night, finishing ahead 28-22, including a 13-4 gap in the second period. Down 9-7 in the shot count entering the period, the Bruins rattled off 11 of the period's first 12 shots.

Chaffe took the no-decision, stopping 11 of the 14 shots he saw before exiting in the second period. Day earned the win with 13 saves on 14 Austin shots, while Trent Wiemken took the shootout loss behind a 17-save effort.

North Iowa takes over sole possession of first place in the NAHL's Central Division race ahead of a road trip to Aberdeen, South Dakota next week. The Wings will come in on a brief hot streak as well, sweeping St. Cloud on the road this weekend.

Friday and Saturday's puck drops at the Odde Ice Center are both slated for 7:15 p.m.

Austin 0 3 1 0 - 4

North Iowa 2 2 0 0 - 5

1st Period-1, North Iowa, Hartley 4 (Potter, Dombrowsky), 14:14 (PP). 2, North Iowa, Casey 3 (Dombrowsky, Potter), 16:54. Penalties-Cook Aus (tripping-minor), 1:07; Nousiaine Nio (hooking-minor), 7:28; Cook Aus (interference-minor), 12:51; Thiessen Nio (hooking-minor), 19:10.

2nd Period-3, Austin, Cook 4 (Giuliani, Goffredo), 0:50 (PP). 4, Austin, Desiderio 1 (Lindahl, Christiano), 2:33. 5, Austin, Desiderio 2 (Salani, Giuliani), 4:21. 6, North Iowa, Scott 3 (Hartley, Dombrowsky), 14:55 (PP). 7, North Iowa, Mexico 4 18:43 (PS). Penalties-Dadie Nio (checking from behind-minor), 5:11; Sweeney Nio (holding-minor), 10:59; Fiorillo Aus (holding-minor), 13:52; Mexico Nio (hooking-minor), 18:48.

3rd Period-8, Austin, Zacher 5 (Furuseth, Desiderio), 13:29 (PP). Penalties-Zacher Aus (hooking-minor), 1:22; Dombrowsky Nio (kneeing-minor), 11:46.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout - Austin 1 (Goffredo NG, Morrissey G, Furuseth NG), North Iowa 2 (Casey G, Scott G).

Shots on Goal-Austin 7-13-7-1-0-28. North Iowa 9-4-5-3-1-22.

Power Play Opportunities-Austin 2 / 6; North Iowa 2 / 4.

Goalies-Austin, Wiemken 1-0-0-1 (21 shots-17 saves). North Iowa, Chaffe 3-0-0-0 (14 shots-11 saves); Day 3-2-0-0 (14 shots-13 saves).

A-1,132

Referees-C. Harrington.

Linesmen-Ben Stark, Tyler Willie.

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