BISMARCK, ND – The Bismarck Bobcats will play a very rare mid-week home game on Wednesday when they hold their first annual Faith Night at the VFW Sports Center as part of their Central Division clash with the Alexandria Blizzard.
Wednesday’s event will welcome members of local churches and youth groups to come together in conjunction with the God’s Child Project. God’s Child founder and CEO Pat Atkinson will address several hundred youngsters from local congregations starting at 6:00 PM.
Once the puck drops, the Bobcats will be looking to bounce back from their first loss since November—a 3-2 shootout defeat in Aberdeen Saturday—against the team that handed them that November loss in the Blizzard (5-1 on November 26).
Leading scorer Matt Gates has the hot hand for the Bobcats, registering four points in the two-game split with the Wings on his way to being named this week’s NAHL Central Division Player of the Week.
Gates is not the only Bobcat picking up hardware in 2011, though, as red-hot goalie Ryan Faragher was named the Sherbrook NAHL Goalie of the Month for December on Friday thanks to a 5-0-0 record, a .962 SV% and an eye-popping 0.80 GAA in the final month of 2010. The Fort Frances, Ont., native is 6-0-1 since surrendering five goals in the 5-1 Black Friday loss at Alexandria.
A familiar face to both Faragher and the Bobcats returns to Bismarck for the first time since earning a Robertson Cup ring with the 2009-10 iteration of the Cats as former Bobcat netminder Jake Williams takes center stage between the pipes for the Blizzard. Williams is 1-1-0 against his former mates so far this season as a member of both Alexandria and the Fresno Monsters.
Williams’ prowess between the pipes will be complemented again by Alexandria’s ferocious firepower up front, led by the NAHL’s fourth-leading scorer in Nardo Nagtzaam (18 G, 27 A; 3 G, 4 A vs. Bismarck), veteran sharpshooter Steve Zierke (17 G, 16 A) and playmaker Alex Altenbernd (7 G, 17 A).
Wednesday’s special mid-week contest, sponsored by McDonald’s, is set to begin at 7:15 PM.
The game 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 will begin at 6:45 PM 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