ST. CLOUD, MN- Thanks to a late Power Play goal from Kyle Miller, the Norsemen find themselves back in the win column with a 2-1 final over the Watertown Shamrocks.
In the final home Friday of 2024, the Norsemen would host the Watertown Shamrocks for game one of the weekend home-and-home series. After a scoreless first period of play, it would take only 2:08 into the middle frame for Mason Lebel to collect his 11th goal of the season from a redirected shot from Kyle Miller to beat the glove hand of Watertown’s Goaltender Philas Lachat. Norsemen Captain, Hudson Blue, would also tally an assist on the goal from Lebel. Watertown would answer with their own goal, this one coming on their second power play of the night from Alternate Captain Carter Sproule. Sproule, who would tally his 8th goal of the year, found a clean pass from Cam Markham to tap in a backdoor shot past St. Cloud Net-Minder Dane Callaway to tie the game up and 1-1.
The 3rd period would be evenly matched as both Lachat and Callaway would turn away multiple grade-a chances thrown at them until a late penalty was assessed to Watertown’s forward Joe Rice for slashing. This would prove to be the turning point for the Norsemen as they would find themselves on a Play It Again Sports Power Play. With traffic in front of the net of Lachat, Kyle Miller would step into a shot from the point to net the eventual game-winning goal at 18:51 in the 3rd period. For Miller, his 7th goal of the season capped off a multi-point night for the San Jose, California native as Sam Crane and Tyler Wishart would be credited for the assist. Dane Callaway would turn aside 26 of the 27 shots he would face on the night en route to picking up his 2nd win of the season for the Norsemen.
For the Norsemen, they close the 2024 calendar year tomorrow night in Watertown for a rematch with the Shamrocks at the Prarie Lakes Ice Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm CST with all the action live on NAHLtv.com.