Bruins drop game one to Minotauros
Published 10:26 pm Friday, April 24, 2015
Austin’s Cory Dunn harasses Minot’s Troy Degler during the second period of the NAHL Central Division championship series, game one, Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin Bruins looked formidable at times, but they had one too many lapses as they dropped their NAHL Central Division Finals opener with a 3-2 loss to the Minot Minotauros in Riverside Arena Friday.
Austin’s Luke Fofar reaches back for the puck during the second period against Minot in game one of the NAHL Central Division championship series at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins will have a chance to tie the five-game series up in game two 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Riverside.
The Minotauros scored the first three goals of the game, but Austin pulled to within 3-2 when Josh Wilkins scored on a hesitation slap shot on a breakaway early in the third period. Austin created plenty of game-tying chances, but they couldn’t score the equalizer.
“It’s not nerves. We just got outworked,” Austin head coach Chris Tok said. “We had guys with the puck and they didn’t want it. It wasn’t good enough. I don’t know if anybody was good enough tonight.”
Austin looked to have a chance to make a move in the third period when Derek Olmschenk drilled a shot right in front of the net to make it 3-1. But the Bruins weren’t able to force any more opportunities in the last seven minutes of the third period.
“After our first goal the puck was in our end for the next five minutes,” Tok said. “You score a goal and you think the you’ve got all of the energy and the momentum and then the puck’s on your end and that takes your wind out until we can going again. We’ve got to be better on a whole throughout the game and not just for spurts.”
Minot was able to use its defense to create scoring opportunities early in the game. Tok said the Bruins need to a better job of staying focused when they don’t have the puck.
Derek Olmschenk celebrates his second-period goal Friday night in the NAHL Central Division championship series at Riverland Community College. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“We had a lot of movie watchers early in the game and a lot of passengers, who when they didn’t have the puck they were watching,” Tok said. “If you watch for just a split second [Minot] has a couple of guys that can beat you. I thought our gap control was pretty poor.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Minot 1 2 0 — 3
Austin 0 1 1 — 2
First period
(M) John Snodgrass (Nate Pionk) 16:34
Second period
(M) James Mathias (Jacob Howie, Jared Brandt) 2:56
(M) Snodgrass (Nick Monfils, Brandt) 7:43
(A) Derek Olmschenk (power play) (Alex Pettersson, Jacob Kullberg) 13:04
Third period
(A) Josh Wilkins 0:51
Shots: Austin — 33; Minot — 27
Power plays: Austin — 1-for-2; Minot — 0-for-3
