Haugenoe’s Big Night Delivers Weekend Sweep for Bobcats
BISMARCK, ND – Rookie goaltender Camden Haugenoe submitted 39 saves—19 in the third period alone—to help the Bismarck Bobcats seize a 4-2 victory over the Austin Bruins to complete a weekend sweep at the VFW Sports Center.
On Teddy Bear Toss Night, blueliner Jiei Halliday got the scoring started 12:18 into the game for the home side: teeing up a cross-ice pass from winger Cooper Haar for a one-time blast that yielded a 1-0 Bobcat lead and triggering waves of stuffed animals raining down onto the ice to be donated to Toys for Tots and the Sanford Hospital Children’s Wing.
“It’s a pretty great feeling, to get the goal that gets so many toys for charity,” noted Halliday, who has scored six times so far this season, “but honestly I wasn’t thinking about it
Austin drew level at one on the power play at the 5:10 mark of the first when AJ Drobot scored his second of the weekend, beating Haugenoe glove-side on the rush.
Just 84 seconds later, the Cats responded with a power play goal of their own when Tristan Ashbrook burned a slap shot over the glove of Bruins netminder Alex Schilling to restore a one-goal Bobcat lead at 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
With 4:56 gone in the second, Matt Barry pushed the score to 3-1 on a shorthanded breakaway set up by Nick Alexander, snapping a shot off the right post and in for his second tally of the weekend.
A fortuitous bounce extended the Cats’ edge to 4-1 when Tobias Fladeby attempted a centering pass to Parker Mismash that bounced off the skate of an Austin defender and through Schilling’s legs with 8:22 to go in the middle frame.
The Bruins registered a shorthanded marker of their own when Tanner DuFault collected a blocked shot at in neutral ice and streaked out on a breakaway, rocketing a snap shot over Haugenoe’s glove with 3:35 remaining in the second to cut the Bobcat advantage to 4-2 after two.
In the third, Austin put forth a mighty effort to come back, outshooting the Cats 19-5, but Haugenoe made stop after stop to keep his team in front.
“Time goes by really fast in periods like [the third],” admitted Haugenoe, a product of Williston High School. “I looked up at one point and there was 18 minutes left, then the next thing I knew it was down to six [minutes left].”
Weathering the storm, the Bobcats used a late power play to run out the final two minutes on the clock to preserve the 4-2 final count.
With his 39-save performance, Haugenoe improved his record to 4-4-0 in his first junior season. Schilling made 19 stops but suffered his seventh defeat of 2016-17.
Now the Bobcats get a season-high 12-day layoff before opening a three-game series with the archrival Minot Minotauros on Thursday, December 29, at Maysa Arena.
The Cats’ return from the Christmas break will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270 AM, and worldwide on HockeyTV.com–the web television partner of the North American Hockey League–with pregame coverage starting at 6:35pm.
Pro-rated season tickets are now on sale for the Bobcats’ landmark platinum anniversary campaign fans can get more information or reserve their seats for all of Season Twenty now by calling 222-3300.