St. Cloud, Minn. — The St. Cloud Norsemen dropped a 5-3 contest to the Austin Bruins on Friday, the team’s first loss in the Central Division.
The Norsemen opened the scoring on a power play goal by Brandon Lajoie (Eagle River, AK) with 5:08 to play in the first.
Austin tied the game 1-1 on a goal by Jens Richards just 1:25 into the second. Late in the second, Kade Peterson (Fargo, ND) scored his third goal of the season, a power play tally to make it 2-1 St. Cloud.
Richards scored his second goal of the game at 8:22 of the third to tie the game once again, 2-2.
Blake Perbix (Princeton, MN – Northern Michigan) earned a penalty shot and tucked it past Bruins goalie Hudson Hodges to put the Norsemen on top 3-2 with 8:14 to play.
Less than two minutes later, Austin scored back to back goals just 44 seconds apart to take the 4-3 lead. The Norsemen used a power play and pulled the goalie to attempt a 6-on-4 for 1:07 and kept the extra attacker but couldn’t score in the closing minutes. The Bruins added an empty-netter to cap the scoring 5-3.
The Norsemen are now 5-2 overall with the second-highest win percentage in the division, with the Bruins and North Iowa Bulls tied for first.
Perbix earned a pair of assists to go with his goal, for a three-point night. Ryan O’Neill maintained the team scoring lead with a pair of assists (5G-8A-13P).
St. Cloud is back on home ice at the Municipal Athletic Complex on October 29-30 when Minot comes to town. Fans can purchase tickets at tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com. The Norsemen are off next weekend with a bye week, and return to action on the road October 22-23 at Bismarck.
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