ONALASKA, WI – The Bismarck Bobcats fell behind early in the second period and could not recover, falling 3-1 Friday at the Omni Center to the Coulee Region Chill.
Friday’s loss snapped the Cats’ four-game winning streak.
With the game sitting scoreless after the first period, Tyler Klein started the Coulee Region attack 2:29 into the second when a Bobcat defender ran into goalie Tommy Burke, giving Klein a wide-open net to give the Chill a 1-0 lead—which he converted.
Klein struck 55 seconds later on an up-ice rush, taking a centering feed from Jake Useldinger and beating Burke to the low-stick side to push the lead to 2-0 for the home side.
The teams deadlocked the rest of the way, despite a five minute major penalty for interference assessed to Bobcats forward Castan Sommer that the visitors managed to negate and during which even managed to outshoot the Chill.
In the third period the Bobcats assaulted Coulee Region netminder Aaron Davis early with a volley of 8 shots in the first ten minutes that the second-year keeper managed to turn away but their momentum bogged down after that when they were whistled for back-to-back penalties on Filip Starzynski and Bryce Schmitt that gave the Chill a 5-on-3 power play.
Jakob Batcha converted the two-man advantage with a low shot in traffic to put some major insurance on the board with a 3-0 spread for Coulee Region.
With the net empty for the last three minutes of regulation, the Bobcats battled to solve Davis and finally managed to spoil his shutout with 17 seconds left in the game when Sommer blew a transition wrister past s glove for the final 3-1 margin.
The Bobcat power play did not provide Burke with any offense, finishing the night 0-for-7 while Batcha’s power play strike boosted the Chill to a 1-for-8 finish with the man advantage.
Davis locked down his eighth win of 2011-12 behind 38 saves while Burke made 26 stops but suffered just his third loss of the year.
The Cats will play their final interdivision road game of 2011-12 Saturday at the Omni Center with a 7:00 PM puck drop against the Chill.
Saturday’s series finale will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide on the official internet television partner of the NAHL, FASTHockey, at http://nahl.fasthockey.com. Pregame coverage gets under way at 6:30. Fans can watch the game—and all away contests—live at Reza’s Pitch at Third and Front in Bismarck, the official away game home of Bobcat Hockey.
Season tickets are now on sale for the 2011-12 season—and going fast! Call the Bobcat Hockey office at (701) 222-3300 or email gobobcathockey@aol.com for more information on reserving a pro-rated package for this season!