Minotauros looking to move away from Central pack

Its very early in the season, but the Minot Minotauros are already looking like a team that could distance itself from the North American Hockey League Central Division field.

Now, that statement would clearly be more powerful if the Minotauros hadn’t come up short in two of its past three, but in a division sees most teams hovering just over or under the .500 plateau, the North Dakota team looks impressive sitting at 7-1-2 10-games into the season.

This could be statement weekend for the Minotauros with road trips to play both the Aberdeen Wings (4-7-0-0) and Brookings Blizzard (4-4-0-1).

The weekend starts at Larson Ice Center in Brookings Friday (Oct. 21) as the Minotauros cross paths with the Blizzard for a third consecutive time having split a pair at Maysa Arena in Minot last weekend.

On Saturday, the Minotauros move on to the Odde Ice Center in Aberdeen for the fourth meeting already between these two teams. Minot has won all three of the previous meetings, two in Minot and one at Aberdeen.

The other team involved in head-to-head Central Division matches this weekend will be the Bismarck Bobcats (6-4-0-0), currently sitting second, four points behind the Minotauros.

The Bobcats will be home at the VFW Sports Center in Bismarck for a pair of weekend games against the Wings on Friday and the Blizzard on Saturday. The Bobcats have one earlier game against the Wings, picking up a 7-2 win in early September and the meeting with the Blizzard will be the first for these two teams this season.

Another  Central Division team, the Austin Bruins will play just once this weekend, traveling to Wisconsin to face the Coulee Region Chill of the Midwest Division at the Green Island Ice Arena in La Crosse on Saturday. The meeting will be the first of a half dozen between these two teams this season.

Also crossing over with the Midwest Division will be the Minnesota Wilderness (5-6-0-0) who play host to the Springfield Jr. Blues on both Friday and Saturday at the Northwood Credit Union Arena. The Wilderness and Jr. Blues squared off at the Nelson Center in Springfield at the end of September and split a weekend pair.

Another Midwest rivalry weekend series will see a Friday/Saturday doubleheader between the division’s top two clubs. The 7-3-2-0 Minnesota Magicians will pay a visit to Janesville Ice Arena for games against the 8-2-0-1 Janesville Jets on Friday and Saturday. The Magicians took a pair of one-goal decisions from the Jets at the Richfield Ice Center on Oct. 6-7.

The lone Midwest based team in the South Division, the Topeka Roadrunners, is off to a disappointing 6-8-0-0 start to the 2016-17 season and will look to get back to .500 with a tough pair of road contests against the Lone Star Brahmas at the NYTEX Sports Center in Texas. The Roadruners will be facing the Brahmas for the first time.