Knapp shutout leads Bobcats to season opening win

By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Midwesthockey.info
The Central Division made an impressive debut in NAHL play on the opening day of the league’s annual Showcase tournament at NSC Super Rinks in Blaine, MN. Wednesday (Sept. 13).
The Central, with six teams based in Minnesota and the Dakotas was the only group without regular season openers the previous weekend, but the six squads wrapped up a near perfect opening day taking wins in five of six games.
Bismarck Bobcats, Austin Bruins, Minot Minotauros, Aberdeen Wings and North Iowa Bulls all wrapped up opening day wins but the Shreveport Mudbugs spoiled the day with a 2-1 edge against the St. Cloud Norsemen in the final game of the day involving a Central Division club.
Following are brief summaries of all six games.

New Hampshire Mountain Kings 0 @ Bismarck Bobcats 2
Klayton Knapp (’03/Sylvania, OH) got his season off to a perfect start, kicking out all 22 New Hampshire shots to nail down the shutout while Evan Hunter (’04/Appleton, WI) and Luke Roelofs (’03/Minnetrista, MN) scored the goals, both on set ups by Julian Beaumont (’04/Allen, TX).

Philadelphia Rebels 2 @ Austin Bruins 4
Teams were even after a scoreless opening period and 1-1 heading to the third before the Bruins counted three straight. The Rebels pulled one back with 6:32 to go but could get no closer.
Gustav Noren (’03/Orebro, Sweden) and Alex Laurenza (’05/Woodbridge, ON) both fired a goal and assist for the Bruins with other goals for Austin Salani (’03/Hancock, MI) and Matys Brassard (’03/St. Hubert, QC). Isak Brassard (’03/St. Hubert, QC) and Ashton Bynum (’04/Tulsa, OK) both collected a pair of assists and Matthew MacArthur (’04/Barrington, IL) stopped 15 of 17 to collect the win in goal.

Minot Minotauros 2 @ Lone Star Brahmas 1
James Norton (’03/Scarborough, ON) stopped all bt one of the 21 shots he faced to help the Minotauros get off to a winning start.
Colby Woogk (’04/Fort Worth, TX) opened the scoring with the only goal of the first 40 minutes, Joel Lehtinen (Espoo, Finland) adding another early in the third. the Brahamas pulled one back just over a minute later but were unable to net the equalizer.

Aberdeen Wings 4 @ Corpus Christi IceRays 3
The Wings rallied back to win its opener witha big third period.
Trailing 1-0 after a period and 3-2 entering the third, Simon Pollock (’03/Santa Rosa, CA) pulled them even 5:38 into the third, setting the stage for Jaxson Murray (’03/St. Clements, ON) who gave the team its first and only lead with 6:12 to play.
Pollock and Logan Gravnik (’03/Andover, MN) paced the Wings with a goal and assist apiece, Isak Holmstrom (’03/Detroit, MI) and Murray scoring the others.
Adam Dybal (’05/Ostrava, Czech Republic) stopped 29 of 32 to start his season with a win in goal.

Fairbanks Ice Dogs 4 @ North Iowa Bulls 5
Goaltenders faced a tough assignment in this one as teams combined to fire 52 shots at the enemy goals.
Connor Graham (’04/Fort Wayne, IN) stopped 48 of 52 to pick up the win while Nolan Grier (’03/Fond du Lac, WI) paced the offense with two goals.

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Justin Mexico (’03/Madison Heights, MI), Hayden Siegel (’03/Deerfield, IL) and Nolan Abraham (’04/Livonia, MI) scored the other Bulls’ goals.

Shreveport Mudbugs 2 @ St. Cloud Norsemen 1
The Norsemen came close to wrapping up a perfect opening day for the division, but the Mudbugs came up with the lone third period goal in a tight battle.
Teams were scoreless after a period, Wes Berg (’05/Fort Myers, FL) putting the Norsemen in front briefly with the team’s only goal in the second period.

Max Weilandt (’05/Northbrook, IL) stopped 22 of 24 shots in goal for the Norsemen.
The division will be back at it Thursday starting at 11 a.m. as the MInotauros take on the Maine Nordiques in the day’s opener with the Wings taking the ice 15 minutes later against Lone Star.
Thursday games
The Norsemen will get another shot at breaking into the win column against the Northeast Generals at 1:45 p.m.; the Bruins facing Oklahoma Warriors in a 4:30 p.m. start and late games for the North Iowa Bulls at 7:15 p.m. against the Colorado Grit and the Bobcats who take on the Odessa Jackalopes 15 minutes later.