Bobcats Host Blizzard in Home-Ice Battle
BISMARCK, ND – Separated by just one point in the Central Division standings, the Bismarck Bobcats will take on the Brookings Blizzard for a special one-off Wednesday night game at the VFW Sports Center.
Coming into Wednesday, the Bobcats (27-15-6, 60 pts) hold sole possession of second place—and the last home-ice slot in the Central Division Semifinals—over the visiting Blizzard (27-17-5, 59 pts).
With just one game in hand over the third-place Brookings side, Wednesday’s clash, one of just three remaining between the two teams in the regular season, will play a key role in who might gain second place in the Central.
“We have two huge head-to-head points against Brookings out there [Wednesday],” asserted Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, “and you can have a two or three-point swing in that kind of game.”
Both sides enter off disappointing losses Saturday: the Bobcats gave up five goals in the first period en route to an 8-3 defeat at Austin while Brookings surrendered three scores in the last two minutes of regulation before dropping a 5-4 shootout loss at Aberdeen.
“Our biggest keys against Brookings will be focus and being prepared,” stressed Sedevie. “We were not ready to go Saturday and made mistake after mistake and it added up against a good team. Well, Brookings is a good team, too, so we need to be ready to play hard for 60 minutes the second that puck drops.”
Two forwards that Sedevie will hope to get production from are Patrick Moore and Stanislav Dzakhov, who each had a goal and an assist in two games in Austin; Moore’s two points game on the heels of a four-point showing at the 2013 Top Prospects Tournament last week in Troy, Mich.
The Bobcats are proud to welcome a number of special groups to Wednesday’s game, including the God’s Child Project, who will be speaking to assembled youth groups throughout the game. Also there Wednesday will be Dreams in Motion, who will have a game of sled hockey on the ice during the first intermission, starring local handi-capable athletes.
“It’s very exciting to have the God’s Child Project on hand for the second straight year,” expressed Bobcats team owner and president Thom Brigl, “they present a great message and are an excellent local organization to work with. And Dreams in Motion, I tell you, is so inspiring: to see those young men and women out there playing hockey on those sleds just makes you feel good.”
Tickets for the game are on sale by calling the Bobcat Box Office at 222-3300; fans can buy and print tickets online right now at BismarckBobcats.com.
Wednesday’s contest will be broadcast locally in HD on KXMB digital channel 12-3 (Midcontinent cable channel 591), 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 6:45 PM.
Pro-rated season tickets for the 2012-13 season are now on sale—and going fast! Call the Bobcat Hockey office today at (701) 222-3300 to reserve your seats for another great season of Championship Entertainment.