Bulls, Bruins share NAHL Central Division lead

In the NA3HL, the North Iowa Bulls were a perennial championship contender, prompting the jump this season to the NAHL as an expansion squad.

Todd Sanden’s Bulls though are not undergoing any first-year jitters. A 3-2 edge against the Minot Minotaruros at the Maysa Arena in Minot Friday (October 8) boosted the Bulls to a 6-2-0-1 start in league play and in a first place tie with the Austin Bruins in the Central Division.

Other Central Division play on Friday night saw the Aberdeen Wings getting by the Bismarck Bobcats 4-1 and the Bruins kept pace with the Bulls, downing the St. Cloud Norsemen 5-3.

Midwest Division action saw the Springfield Blues getting back into the win column with a 4-3 edge against the Chippewa Steel and the Minnesota Magicians getting by the Janesville Jets 5-3.

North Iowa Bulls 3 @ Minot Minotauros 2

Each team owned a period, the Bulls jumping into a 3-0 first period lead and after a scoreless middle period the Minotauros fighting back with two, but unable to notch the equalizer.

Byron Hartley (’02/Philadelphia, PA); Michael Mesic (’04/Plymouth, MI — Northern Michigan) and Max Scott (’02/San Jose, CA) scored the Bulls’ goals and Hunter Garvey (’02/San Diego, CA) picked up the win in goal with 32 saves).

David Nesburg (’02/Fairbault, MN) scored both Minot markers.

Aberdeen Wings 4 @ Bismarck Bobcats 1

The Wings scored the first two goals and carried a 2-1 lead into the middle period where they added two more. Third period was scoreless.

Cade Neilson (’01/Nottingham, England — Alaska-Fairbanks) scored both first period goals for the Wings, Nate Mann (’02/Hilton, NY) and Owen DuBois (’02/Madison), notching the others. Dominik Wasick (’02/Superior, CO) made 26 stops to pick up the win in goal.

Quinn Rudrud (’01/Farmington, MN) scored the lone Bismarck goal and Aksel Reid (’03/Minneapolis, MN) took the loss despite a 36-save effort in goal for the Bobcats.

The Wings boosted its record to 5-4-0 with the win while the Bobcats fell to 1-8-0

Austin Bruins 5 @ St. Cloud Norsemen 3

This was an interesting battle of teams both off to a solid start this season.

St. Cloud led 1-0 after a period, 2-1 heading to the third and 3-2 past the halfway mark of the final period before the Bruins scored two goals in 45 seconds to grab its first lead, then salted it away with an empty netter, 14 seconds from the final buzzer.

Jens Richards (’02/Callaway, MN) scored twice, his seventh and eighth of the season and other Bruins goals came from: Austin Salani (’03/Hancock, MI); Sutter Muzzatti (’03/Okemos, MI) and Carson Riddle (’01/Holly, MI).

Brandon Lajoie (’01/Eagle River, AK); Kade Peterson (’03/Fargo, ND) and Blake Perbix (’02/Princeton, MN) fired the Norsemen goals.

The Bruins climbed to 6-2-1 with the win while the Norsmen fell to third in the division with a record of 5-2-0.

MIDWEST DIVISION

Springfield Blues 4 @ Chippewa Steel 3

Both teams held leads in a back and forth contest that was settled with Leo Bacallao (’01/Madison, WI) fired the game winner 46 seconds from the final buzzer.

Other Springfield goals came from: Mason Hoehn (’01/Highlands Ranch, CO); Joey Dosan (’01/Bloomington, MN) and Carson Jones (’01/Eden Prairie, MN). Jack Brown (’01/Woodbury, MN); Ethan Benz (’01/Shakopee, MN) and Joe Kelly (’03/Eau Claire, WI) responded with the goals for Steel.

The Blues jumped back into the win column with its seventh win in nine games and the Steel fell back to .500 at 5-5-0.

Janesville Jets 3 @ Minnesota Magicians 5

Most of the scoring in this one came in the final 20 minutes, the Magicians carrying a 1-0 lead into the second period but even at 1-1 after two.

Score was even again at 2-2 four minutes into the third, but the Magicians grabbed its final lead 59 seconds later and added two more, the second into an empty Jets’ goal before Janesville pulled one back in the final minute.

Samuel Jacobs (’02/Maple Grove, MN) and Hunter Longhi (’02/Colinsville, IL — Harvard) both scored twice for the Magicians, Trevor Kukkonen (’01/Maple Grove, MN — Michigan Tech) adding the other.

Ethan Begg (’03/Golden, CO — Vermont); Jan Lasak (’02/Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia — Lawrence) and Cy LeClerc (’02/Brentwood, NH — New Hampshire) scored the Jets’ goals.

Magicians moved to 7-4-0 on the season with the win while the struggling Jets fell to 2-6-0-1.