Bobcats Race past Chill 5-2
BISMARCK, ND – The Bismarck Bobcats rattled off five straight goals to cruise by the Coulee Region Chill by a count of 5-2 Friday at the VFW Sports Center.
Shane Omdahl opened the scoring for the Cats 9:33 into the game, taking an entry pass from Stanislav Dzakhov and dekeing through the Coulee Region defense before rolling a backhander past Chill netminder Devin Kero to post the Bobcats to a 1-0 lead through one period.
“That line of Stan, Shane and Bob [Kinne] was really special tonight,” lauded Bobcat head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, whose is now 3-0-0 against the Chill in the four-game season series against Coulee Region, “they have some good chemistry and look like they’re going to be very productive as a unit for us.”
Matt Anders doubled the Cats’ lead to 2-0 with 15:56 left in the second, grabbing a centering pass from Kevin Becker and blasting it through Kero’s legs for his fourth goal of the season.
Dzakhov netted his first goal as a Bobcat 38 seconds later, rolling home a Kinne rebound to push the score to 3-0 in favor of the home side.
Bobcat captain Adam Knochenmus kept the scoring parade going a mere 46 seconds into the third, diving to poke in a back-door feed from Mike Dockry off a face off win to propel the black and gold to a 4-0 advantage.
Like Dzakhov, Becker also tallied his first goal as a Bobcat to push it out to 5-0 with 17:26 left in the third, using Anders as a screen to zip a rising wrister past Kero and put a cap on the Cats’ five-goal surge.
“How about Kevin Becker tonight,” credited Sedevie. “He was strong on defense and skated really well. That’s the Kevin Becker I remember from Aberdeen last season.”
Coulee Region spoiled Bobcat goalie Aaron Nelson’s shutout bid with 10:40 left in the game as Mac Jansen chipped a loose puck over Nelson’s glove to cut the Cats’ lead to 5-1.
Garrett Hendrickson gave the game its final 5-2 margin two and a half minutes later, rifling a low shot through traffic that beat Nelson low glove.
Nelson needed just 16 saves to secure his 11th win of 2012-13 while Kero stopped 35 of the 40 shots launched his way but slipped to 0-5-0 on the season.
The two sides will wrap up their four-game season series Saturday at the VFW Sports Center at 7:15 PM.
Saturday’s finale 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 6:45 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.