Mason City, Iowa – The St. Cloud Norsemen take home a 4-2 victory over the North Iowa Bulls from a Thursday night road trip to Mason City.
St. Cloud opened the scoring in the first period, 4:27 into the game. During a penalty kill, North Iowa goaltender Hunter Garvey turned the puck over with a pass picked up by Blake Mesenburg (Orono, MN) and sniped past the retreating Garvey to give the Norsemen a 1-0 lead with the shorthanded tally. The Norsemen have scored a shorthanded goal in each of the last three games, two of those coming from Mesenburg. The Orono, MN native has 14 goals on the season and is second on the team in scoring with 34 points.
The Norsemen opening the second period with a power play rip from Ryan O’Neill (Roseville, MN // Univ. of St. Thomas) his team-high 16th goal of the season, and he’s now up to 41 points on the year to lead St. Cloud. Evan Murr (Stillwater, MN) and Blake Perbix (Princeton, MN/Northern Michigan) both earned assists on the power play strike.
But the Bulls came back to put two in the back of the net, one even strength and one on the power play, to tie things up 2-2 with scores at 10:43 and 12:03 of the second.
After a major penalty by the Bulls in the third period, Brandon Lajoie (Eagle River, AK // Alaska-Anchorage) adds to his goal tally, getting his 14th of the season, the eventual game-winner, on the power play. O’Neill and Perbix earned assists on the goal.
Perbix would score the empty-netter to cap the scoring at 4-2, with O’Neill and Nick Young (Raleigh, N.C.) picking up assists.
Tomas Bolo (Zilina, Slovakia) stopped 30 shots as the Norsemen were outshot for just the third time this season.
St. Cloud is back home at the Municipal Athletic Complex for a weekend series against Minot, Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available online at tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com
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