The St. Cloud Norsemen opened their season with a sweep over the Minnesota Mallards. The Norsemen celebrated their home opener Friday night with a 5-2 victory and then spoiled the Mallards home opener on Saturday winning 4-2.
After a scoreless first period on Friday the Norsemen struck midway through the second with Christian Garrity scoring off assists from Will Doherty and William Esterbrooks. Tanner Hunt made it 2-0 later in the period with Esterbrooks and Wyatt Farrell picking up the assists. The Mallards scored late to pull within one heading into the third, but Bronson Hunt scored in the opening minute of the third with assists from Alex Sandhu and Sam Crane. Minnesota pulled within one again a few minutes later on the power play, but the Norsemen tacked on two insurance goals late with Christian Nichols and Tanner Hunt putting the game on ice. Beck Liden made 39 saves for the victory in net.
Saturday night the Norsemen jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period with Alex Sandu scoring off assists from Bronson Hunt and Avry Shaw. Sam Crane broke a 1-1 tie scoring in the opening minute of the second with assists from Esterbrooks and Cole Bies. Noah Teng and Bies set up Carter Williams with the game winner late in the third and Vinny Hart added an empty netter to complete the sweep. Farrell picked up his second assist of the weekend and Beck Liden picked up his second victory with 28 saves.
St. Cloud will head to Blaine this week for the Showcase. They play Philadelphia on Wednesday at 1:30 and then take on Johnstown Friday and Springfield on Saturday with both puck drops at 3 pm. Watch Norsemen hockey this year on the West Central Technology network on NAHLTV.COM
