St. Cloud, Minn. — The St. Cloud Norsemen outlasted Bismarck in a back-and-forth battle to win its home opener 5-4 at the Municipal Athletic Complex on Friday night.
More than 700 fans were on hand as the Norsemen recognized Frontline Workers and won the home opener for the first time in the last six years of the franchise. Five different Norsemen scored in the victory and ten individuals earned at least a point.
Ryan O’Neill scored midway through the third period to break the final stalemate. The Norsemen and Bobcats were tied at 1-1 after the first and 3-3 after the second, before the teams traded goals in the third and O’Neill notched the eventual winner.
After the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead, Blake Mesenburg scored the first home goal of the season on the power play with 4.2 seconds remaining in the first to tie the game heading to the second. Ethan Lindahl scored his first NAHL career goal off a feed from Logan Kittleson to put the Norsemen on top 2-1.
Bismarck answered with back to back goals to take a 3-2 lead, bringing the night to a close for starting goaltender Josh Langford, who stopped 13 of 16 shots faced. Tomas Bolo took over in the cage and earned the win, making 8 of 9 saves.
Kittleson picked up his second assist of the night on a goal by defenseman Nick Young, his first of the season, putting the game back to even at 3-3. Roberts Petrovics also earned an assist on the play.
The Bobcats once again pulled back in front 4-3 in the third period. Kade Peterson had the answer on a goal from Broten Sabo and O’Neill, making it a 4-4 game.
O’Neill scored his third goal in three games to net the go-ahead goal and help the Norsemen claim the win.
O’Neill finished the game with a goal and an assist. Mesenburg posted a goal and an assist, meanwhile Kittleson and Duerr each had two helpers.
St. Cloud (2-1) and Bismarck (0-5) face off against Saturday night at the MAC at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are still available. Fans should purchase in advance online at tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com