Titanic Rally Delivers Road Sweep
Published on October 23, 2011 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Bismarck Bobcats News Release
ABERDEEN, SD - Facing a three-goal deficit, the Bismarck Bobcats rattled off four unanswered scores and held on for a 6-5 shootout win over the Aberdeen Wings Saturday, completing the two-game sweep of their archrivals at the Odde Ice Center.
Trailing 4-1 after one after conceding a first-period hat trick to Wings forward Steve Obarzanek, the Bobcats turned to backup goal tender Aaron Nelson to try and dig themselves out of deep mire.
"I think our guys learned a couple of valuable lessons tonight," said Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, "one: you can't take a period off in this league and expect things to go well; two: no game is out of reach if we play our game. Our guys stayed focused, shook off abad first and grinded out two huge points on the road."
Nelson got some fast help from his offense in the secondas Danny Ray took a centering feed from Ryan Callahan and whipped a wrister past Wings goalie Hunter Leisner to trim the Aberdeen lead to 4-2 with 12:21 left in the middle frame.
Adam Knochenmus followed 4:12 later with his second ofthe year, pounding a one-timer through Leisner's legs to pull the Bobcatswithin 4-3.
Former Aberdeen forward Filip Starzynski forced a 4-4 tie with 4:46 left in the second, powering a Nick Miglio rebound through Leisneramid a pileup in front of the Aberdeen net. It was the third goal forStarzynski, who was invited a week ago to join Poland's national junior teamfor the 2012 World Junior Championships.
"We knew we had to come out as hard as we could in thesecond," explained Starzynski, who was added to the Bobcats roster in Septemberfollowing the early season departure of Nikolaj Rosenthal. "We had to outworkthem, outplay them, and want to win more than they did. We executed everythingperfectly and put ourselves in a position to win."
Bobcat blueliner Donald Olivieri put an exclamation pointon the Cats' second period surge, using a screen from Tyler Richter to boom arising slap shot under the crossbar to force the Bobcats ahead 5-4 with just 17seconds left in the middle stanza.
Obarzanek's huge night, however, continued into the thirdas he followed up his own rebound on the power play to beat Nelson for hisfourth goal of the night and force a 5-5 tie just 2:13 into the final frame.
Nelson and Leisner took charge from there, combining for30 saves in the third and then another six in overtime, necessitating the Cats'first shootout of 2011-12.
Frank DeAugustine converted the Cats' first chance whileAberdeen first-liner Cory Ward drew the Wings even in the third round, withboth sides' shooters failing to score in the fourth- bringing about the decisivefifth round.
John Furgele opened the fifth with a goal, readingLeisner's attempted poke check and blowing a snap shot over the Wings goalie'sglove. Nelson preserved his first win as a Bobcat by stoning Paul Prescott andtriggering a jubilant celebration in the Bobcats' zone with the comeback completed.
"It was a crazy game and it all came down to one shooter,"grinned Nelson, a former standout at Century High School in Bismarck. "I wasnervous- I mean, I'm still shaking a little bit- but the team was counting on meand I wasn't going to let our guys down. What a way to get that win."
Nelson turned in a tidy 18-save performance to earn theCats' 11th win of the year while Leisner totaled an incredible 51saves but could not avoid falling to 3-6-2 on the season.
Castan Sommer opened the scoring for the Cats, poppinghome a Dan Kovar rebound 5:01 into the game to boost the Cats to a 1-0 leadthat would soon be forgotten among an avalanche of goals by Aberdeen's topline.
Obarzanek netted two goals in transition to push theWings ahead 2-1, followed by a power play strike from Ward for a 3-1 home teamadvantage.
The Macomb, Mich., native wrapped up his first-period hattrick with 2:49 left in the frame, banging in a back-door feed from Ward makeit 4-1 Aberdeen and chasing Bobcats starting goalie Tommy Burke, who did notfactor into the decision. Obarzanek now has 10 goals on the year- six of whichhave come against the Bobcats.
The Bobcats return to action Friday when they play hostto Canada's Dawson Creek Rage for the first of two interdivision, internationalshowdowns at the VFW Sports Center, with a scheduled puck drop of 7:15 PM.
Friday's contest will be broadcast locally on the radiohome of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide on the officialinternet television partner of the NAHL, FASTHockey, athttp://nahl.fasthockey.com. Pregamecoverage gets under way at 6:45.
Season tickets are now on sale for the 2011-12season- and going fast! Call the Bobcat Hockey office at (701) 222-3300 or emailgobobcathockey@aol.com for more information on reserving a pro-rated packagefor this season!
North American Hockey League Stories from October 23, 2011
- A Grinder, But a Win - Springfield Jr. Blues
- Stars Drop Finale, 2-0 - Traverse City North Stars
- Stars drop finale, 2-0 - Traverse City North Stars
- Overtime Unkind - Wenatchee Wild
- Titanic Rally Delivers Road Sweep - Bismarck Bobcats
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
