ST. CLOUD, MN – After a tough outing on Friday Night, the St. Cloud Norsemen rallied the troops and came away with a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday Night to split the Weekend Series with the Bismarck Bobcats.
The Norsemen matched up with the Division-Leading Bismarck Bobcats for the first time this season on Friday night in St. Cloud and found themselves on the wrong side of an 8-0 loss. The Norsemen looked like a brand-new team after retooling and resetting for Saturday night’s weekend finale. However, Bismarck would strike first at 9:39 in the first period from the 9th goal of the season from Julian Beaumont. Even though the score would be 1-0 in favor of Bismarck after the first period, St. Cloud would continue to throw everything the way of Bobcat Net-minder Tomas Anderson and it wouldn’t be long until they found the back of the net.
The success of the Norsemen Power Play continued to be beneficial as Columbus, Ohio native Mason Lebel would redirect a shot from Tim Runtso past Anderson to tie the game up 1-1 a little over three minutes into the second period. Kyle Miller would collect the secondary assist on the goal from Lebel. Bismarck wouldn’t back down as they continued to prove why they are one of the toughest teams in the league, but Norsemen Goalie Connor Roff stood tall to keep it at a 1-1 tie after forty minutes of play.
Bismarck would again find themselves in penalty trouble as Gabe Keene would be called for an interference minor which would then set up the Norsemen Power Play chance. This time, it was Carter Lundie with his 10th goal of the season to give the Norsemen their first lead of the night at 2-1. Gabe Gallivan and Bronson Hunt would combine on the assist for Lundie’s goal. Bismarck would tie the game back up at two aside when Jacob Korpecky sniped a shot past Roff late in the 3rd period. Sixty minutes would prove to not be enough as both teams would head to overtime tied at two.
Bismarck would win the opening faceoff in overtime to set themselves up with a chance to secure the win, but Roff would stand tall and turn aside multiple chances which would then set up the Norsemen. A 3-on-1 breakout lead by Hudson Blue would march down the ice when a backdoor pass from Miller found the stick of Blue beat the glove hand of Anderson to secure the extra point in the overtime session and a 3-2 win for the Norsemen. Connor Roff would pick up his 2nd win of the season while turning aside 26 of the 28 shots he would face on the evening.
Up next, the Norsemen close out their current 4-game homestand by welcoming the Minot Minotauros to the MAC for the final time in the Regular Season. Game time for Friday night is set for 7:00 PM CST and Saturday at 6:30 PM CST. Tickets for both games are available at Tickets.StCloudNorsemen.com and also streaming live on the Norsemen Media Network on NAHLTV.com.
