BLAINE, MN – The Bismarck Bobcats stormed out of the gate in their 2010-11 season opener, blitzing the Fresno Monsters for six goals in the first period en route to a dominating 7-2 win Wednesday at the Sherbrook NAHL Showcase.
“This is the kind of start our team was looking for, and I don’t just mean the goals,” said Bobcats head coach Layne Sedevie. “The biggest thing I wanted our guys to do is compete. It’s hard to judge much in the first week of the regular season, except for effort—and our team gave a great effort all day.”
Facing 2009-10 Bobcat goaltender Jake Williams, who was traded during the offseason to the Monsters for two first-round draft picks, the ‘Cats struggled to beat their former teammate until Charlie Mosey—selected with one of the picks acquired in exchange for Williams—opened the scoring with a strong individual effort through three Fresno defenders, firing a low shot under Williams’ glove 9:04 into the game for a 1-0 Bobcat lead.
Returning Bobcat forward Sam Dougherty extended the lead to 2-0 less than two minutes later, rocketing a transition slap shot off Williams’ glove and into the net with 8:58 left in the first.
The Cats broke the game open as the first period crossed the 15-minute mark, starting as Dan Zawacki powered home a Trevor Landgraf rebound with 4:48 to go in the opening frame.
Just 1:13 later, Frank DeAugustine swept a loose puck through Williams’ legs and in, ending the day for the former Bobcat netminder and extending the champs’ lead to 4-0.
Williams finished the game with 5 saves on 4 shots and suffering the loss.
Nikolaj Murholt-Rosenthal took over for the Bobcats following DeAugustine’s goal, tipping in a Tom Rizzardo shot with 2:28 left and then slamming home his own rebound on the power play with 1:02 remaining in the first to push the lead to an eye-popping 6-0 heading into the first intermission.
“Our line was playing well,” noted Murholt-Rosenthal, who also added an assist on Zawacki’s goal. “We had a nice combination with myself, Dan Zawacki and Charlie Mosey today. We have a nice chemistry and we were making good plays all game.”
The only goal of the second period came off the stick of Monster forward Mike Cox—beating returning Bobcat goalie Ryan Faragher with a low line drive to give the Monsters their first goal as franchise with 7:08 left in the middle stanza.
The Cats returned the favor early in the third as DeAugustine picked up his second of the night, banging home a perfect back-door feed from veteran Bobcat forward Brett Bower, extending the lead to 7-1 just 3:56 into the final frame.
Fresno closed the scoring on a back door play of their own as John Siemer deposited a far-post feed from Cox to make it 7-2 with just 62 seconds left in the game.
Faragher made 23 saves in picking up his first win of the year.
“That was probably one of the best starts I’ve seen of any game in all three years I’ve played juniors,” remarked Faragher. “Getting that kind of lead early makes my job a lot easier: I just settled right in with the offense going so well.”
Williams’ replacement, Louis Puig, turned away 16 of 19 Bobcat shots while not factoring into the decision.
The Bobcats continue the Sherbrook NAHL Showcase on Thursday with a morning date against the South Division’s Springfield Jr. Blues at 10:15 AM.
The morning contest will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide at http://nahl.fasthockey.com/. Pre-game coverage for the 2010-11 lid-lifter will begin at 9:45 AM CT.
Season tickets are now on sale for the 2010-11 season! Call the Bobcat Hockey office at (701) 222-3300 or email gobobcathockey@aol.com for more information on reserving your seats for the entire season as the Bobcats look to defend the Robertson Cup!
BOBCAT HOCKEY
2010 ROBERTSON CUP CHAMPIONS