Norsemen Battle to Weekend Split in Bismarck

Jan 19, 2025

BISMARCK, ND – The St. Cloud Norsemen hit the road to Bismarck for the first time this season to take on the Division Leading Bismarck Bobcats. While Friday Night did not go their way, the Norsemen returned with two points in Saturday’s finale. 

For the first time this season, the VFW Sportcenter hosted the weekend match-up between the Norsemen and the Bobcats. Norsemen Netminder Connor Roff would get the start for his 5th straight game for St. Cloud and start strong. The first twenty minutes of action would be scoreless as Roff would turn aside all 13 shots he would face from the Bobcats, with multiple of them being grade-a chances. 

It would be at the 2:15 mark of the second period when we would see the night’s first goal, and that would come off the stick of Delta, BC, native Alex SandhuSandu would tuck his 4th of the season through the legs of Bobcats Goalie Tomas Anderson. Tanner Hunt and Wyatt Farell would combine on the assist from Sandu’s goal. Unfortunately for the Norsemen, that would be their lone goal of the night as the Bobcats would come roaring back. Tommy Cronin would get one past Roff to tie the game up at one after the first period of play. 

Jakub Kopecky would score the eventual game-winner for the Bobcats while on the Power Play at 10:21 in the 3rd period and Alexandr Kim would add some insurance with his 7th of the year at 13:28 to help secure the 3-1 win for Bismarck on Friday Night. Connor Roff would pick up the loss while turning aside 33 of the 36 shots he would face. 

Looking to bounce back and salvage the weekend, the Norsemen came out on Saturday with all cylinders firing. Mason Lebel would send a rocket of a shot past the blocker side of Tomas Anderson at 11:47 in the 1st period to collect his 14th goal of the year. Hudson Blue and Bronson Hunt each tallied an assist on Lebel’s goal. From there, the Norsemen would not turn back and hold the lead for the remainder of the evening. Late in the second period, Sandu would bounce one off a Bobcat Defensemen to pick up his 5th goal of the year, 2nd of the weekend, and extend the Norsemen lead to 2-0. 

The Bobcats would be on the tail end of their Power Play to start the 3rd period and it would be Keanu Krenn for Bismarck with his 9th of the season to give the Cats some life. However, that momentum wouldn’t last very long as Martins Klaucans would rejoin the rush from the Penalty Box to snipe his first career NAHL goal past Tomas Anderson to give the Norsemen back a 2-goal lead. Andrew Cumming would seal the deal with an empty net goal at 17:36 to help secure the 4-1 win for the Norsemen. Beck Liden got the start on Saturday and would pick up his 11th win of the season while turning aside 30 of the 31 shots he would face on the night. 

The Norsemen return to the MAC on Friday night to host the North Iowa Bulls, then hit the road on Saturday to Mason City to finish up the weekend home-and-home series. Tickets for Friday’s game are on sale now by heading to tickets.stcloudnorsemen.com and you can catch all the action for both games streaming live on the Lyon Sheet Metal and Heating Norsemen Media Network on NAHLtv.com. 

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