The Bismarck Bobcats completed a weekend sweep this Friday and Saturday as they took on the Aberdeen Wings at the VFW Sports Center.
Friday night, the Bobcats didn’t waste any time finding the back of the net as Evan Hunter was the recipient of a seam pass from Tristen Treviño and Hunter buried the biscuit into the basket to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead just over 2 minutes into the contest. Later in the period, Tommy Cronin would extend the Bobcat lead on a net-front scramble to make it a 2-0 Bobcat lead heading into the 1st intermission. Bismarck outshot Aberdeen 13-6 in the opening period.
The Wings came out of the break a little more awake and they would be rewarded as Owen Pitters deflected a puck past Tomas Anderson to cut the lead in half for the Bobcats. The response was quick from Bismarck. On the man advantage the Bobcats executed a beautiful passing play as Louie Kamienski, in the bumper role, found Keanu Krenn, who slapped home the one-timer restoring the two-goal lead, just a minute and a half after Aberdeen scored. Later in the period Hunter would notch his 2nd of the contest on another net-front play to give the Bobcats the 4-1 lead heading into the intermission.
The 3rd period saw the Bobcats face some adversity, having to kill off an abbreviated 5 on 3 power play for Aberdeen. After that, however, it was smooth sailing as the Bobcats skated away with the 4-1 victory on home ice.
Tomas Anderson was absolutely stellar on Friday stopping 24 of 25 that came his way. For Anderson that was his 24th win of the season.
Moving ahead to Saturday’s game, a very similar storyline as it would be the Bobcats striking first, Louie Kamienski, while falling down, was able to chip one over the shoulder of Damon Cunningham to give the Bobcats the advantage midway through the 1st. The Bobcats would get back on the power play in the late stages and Matthew Rafalski unleashed a ripper toward net and it beat Cunningham cleanly to give the Bobcats a 2-0 head start heading into the 2nd period.
The 2nd period was an offensive blitzkrieg for the Bobcats. Kyle Doll would inch ahead on a breakaway, and while he didn’t get as clean of a shot as he wanted, the puck deflected off of an Aberdeen body into the back of the net giving the Cats the 3-0 lead. If you thought they were done there, you’d be gravely mistaken. Cronin would get to the front of the net and swat one out of mid-air to find the back of the net for a 4-0 lead. Alexandr Kim joined the scoring as he sniped one home to make it 5-0 Bobcats. 11 seconds later Julian Beaumont found himself open in front of the blue paint to make it 6-0 Bobcats on the tap-in. The Cats would take the 6-0 lead heading into the 3rd.
The 3rd period saw the Bobcats take their foot off of the gas pedal a bit. Aberdeen would strike twice, once in the first 5 minutes and once in the last 5 minutes to make it 6-2, which would end up being the final score on Saturday night.
The Bobcats leapfrogged the Minot Minotauros this weekend in the standings, regaining 1st place. The Cats, Tauros, and Bruins are all separated in the standings by just 1 point.
Next weekend the Bobcats are on the road to take on the Austin Bruins. You can catch all the action at one of our road watch party locations, or by tuning in on NATV or Super Talk 1270 with the voice of the Bobcats, Brandon Luisi.