Cloquet, Minn. — The St. Cloud Norsemen scored early and often in a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wilderness in non-division action on the road Friday night.
The top line of Blake Perbix, Blake Mesenburg and Ryan O’Neill tallied seven points on three goals and four assists in the Norsemen win.
Perbix (Princeton, MN | Northern Michigan) opened the scoring with the first of his two goals at the 3:47 mark of the first to give the Norsemen a 1-0 lead. O’Neill (Roseville, MN | Univ. of St. Thomas) potted the first of three assists on the score.
With 5:12 left in the first, St. Cloud Norsemen goaltender Tomas Bolo launched a puck out of the zone on a penalty kill and fed it up the wall to Mesenburg (Orono, MN) who ripped the shot over the shoulder of the Wilderness netminder for the shorthanded goal, his fifth goal of the season. Bolo earned his first career assist on the play.
In the second period, the Norsemen once again started strong with O’Neill and Mesenburg setting up rookie defensemen Duke Kiffin with his second career goal to make it 3-0 St. Cloud at the 4:15 mark.
Perbix buried his second goal of the game on a breakaway to put the Norsemen up 4-0. O’Neill earned his third assist of the game on the score and for Perbix, the goal marks his ninth of the season.
Another early score to start the period for St. Cloud came at 1:52 in the third. Forward Peyton Hanson (Hudson, WI) shot, collected his rebound and dropped a pass back to forward Brandon Lajoie (Eagle River, AK | Alaska-Anchorage) and he launched it into the back of the net to give the Norsemen a convincing 5-0 advantage. Lajoie leads the Norsemen in goals with 10 on the season.
Bolo made 19 saves as the Norsemen controlled the play, outshooting the Wilderness 34-20.
The Norsemen Pantown Penalty Kill was a perfect 4-for-4 on the night and notched a shorthanded goal for the third weekend in a row.
St. Cloud moves to 12-9-0 overall and returns home for a rematch with the Wilderness at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night Dec. 11 at the Municipal Athletic Complex. Tickets are on sale at tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com
| 1st | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:57 | STN | Blake Perbix (8) ASST: Ryan O’Neill (16) | |
| 14:48 | STN | Blake Mesenburg (5) ASST: Tomas Bolo (1) (SH) | |
| 2nd | |||
| 4:15 | STN | Duke Kiffin (2) ASST: Blake Mesenburg (14), Ryan O’Neill (17) | |
| 11:27 | STN | Blake Perbix (9) ASST: Ryan O’Neill (18) | |
| 3rd | |||
| 1:52 | STN | Brandon Lajoie (10) ASST: Peyton Hanson (5) | |
| 13:53 | MNW | Cole Crusberg-Roseen (13) ASST: Nicholas Rexine (12), Ian Duffy (1) |