Bobcat Offense Comes Alive in 6-1 Romp
ONALASKA, WI – The Bismarck Bobcats snapped out of an offensive funk, getting six goals from six different players on the way to a 6-1 rout of the Coulee Region Chill at the Omni Center, spoiling the Chill’s home opener Friday.
After the Bobcats held off an early surge from the Chill, who outshot the visitors 4-0 in the first ten minutes of regulation, Filip Starzynski got the Cats’ scoring spree started with 9:06 to go in the first, slamming home a Kevin Becker rebound for his first goal of the season to post the visitors to a 1-0 lead.
Levi Blom followed Starzynski’s lead, tallying his first goal as a Bobcat, ripping a 50-foot shot through traffic past Chill netminder Devin Kero a mere 44 seconds after Starzynski’s go-ahead marker to boost the Bobcats’ lead to 2-0.
The loudest statement the Bobcat offense made in the first, however, came with 6:23 to go in the frame as Bob Kinne snapped the team’s two-game power play slump, snapping a 60-foot turnaround shot home through Kero’s legs to push the lead to 3-0 after one.
Despite getting outshot 4-0 in the first ten minutes, the Bobcats took 14 shots to just five for Coulee Region in the opening frame.
“We didn’t quite get the start we wanted but our guys started working hard and forechecking well,” noted Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie. “When the hard work started, the goals followed.”
Late in the second, the Bobcats got a two-goal swing when goalie Bryan Nies denied top-scoring Chill scorer Mac Jansen on a breakaway and on the ensuing rush Joe Giordano cashed in a 2-on-2 with Patrick Moore when goalie Bryan Nies denied top-scoring Chill scorer Mac Jansen on a breakaway and on the ensuing rush Joe Giordano cashed in a 2-on-2 with Patrick Moore at the 1:35 mark of the middle frame at the other end to push the cushion to 4-0.
Nies made a similar save on a short-handed breakaway by Jesse Tredinnick early in the third, flaring out his right leg pad moments before a 3-on-2 the other way yielded a goal for team captain Adam Knochenmus to put an exclamation point on the Cats’ five-goal surge and make it 5-0 for the away side with 13:15 to go in the game.
“Bryan really bailed us out a couple times in a row and we managed to pay him back with two goals,” credited Knochenmus, whose third-period power play strike gave the Cats their second extra-man strike of the night—matching their season total entering Friday’s contest. “The game could’ve looked a lot different if Bryan doesn’t make those saves.”
Nies’ shutout bid, though, fell victim 46 seconds after Knochenmus’ strike as Coulee Region blueliner Aleksi Mustaniemi blasted a low slap shot through traffic that beat Nies to the glove side for a 5-1 score.
Bobcat blueliner Connor McPherson put a cap on the visitors’ season-high offensive night with 3:49 to go in the game as a centering feed from Moore deflected off his skates and in for the final margin of 6-1.
Nies picked up his fourth win of the year on 28 saves while 38 stops were not enough for Kero to avoid his second loss of the year.
The Bobcats will wrap up their division-opening weekend with a rematch of the 2012 Central Division Finals as they pay a 7:05 PM visit to Riverside Arena to take on the first-place Austin Bruins.
Saturday’s showdown 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 6:35.
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.
