Blair Joins up as Bobcats Battle Wings
BISMARCK, ND – The Bismarck Bobcats will have a familiar face to Bismarck/Mandan hockey fans on the ice when they open a two-game, home-and-home series Friday when they host the Aberdeen Wings at the VFW Sports Center.
Friday’s home contest will mark the debut for hometown forward and former Century High standout Seth Blair, who the Bobcats added from the Minot Minotauros last week.
“I’m happy to get an opportunity to come home and play for my hometown team,” stated Blair, who has had stops in Minot and Corpus Christi during his NAHL career.
Blair, who led Century in scoring during his freshman campaign with 38 points, has three assists on the current NAHL season, which was hampered in late November by a hand injury.
Both sides enter the weekend with momentum as the Cats are 4-0-1 in their last five games while Aberdeen has shaken off a season-long 18-game losing streak to post wins in three of their last four.
“Aberdeen has been playing good hockey with [new head coach] Travis [Winter] behind the bench,” lauded Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, who played his college hockey at Bemidji State with Winter. “They play team defense and don’t give you a lot out there. He’s got them pointed in the right direction going forward.”
Coming into the weekend, the Bobcats find themselves looking across the standings at the Brookings Blizzard, who used an overtime loss Wednesday to tie the Cats for second place with 56 points in the wild Central Division playoff chase. Brookings has played one more game than the Bobcats, giving the Cats the win percentage tiebreaker.
After failing to score more than four goals in any of the first nine games of 2013—and only notching four goals once—the Bobcat offense sprang to life last weekend in a 1-0-1 showing against the division-leading Austin Bruins, hanging ten total goals on the Bruins in two contests.
One key ingredient for the scoring success was the team’s intensity against Austin.
“When our guys are able to go out there and be physical, forecheck hard and force mistakes, that’s when they’re at their best,” assessed Sedevie. “We did that for two straight games maybe better than we’ve done all year against a really strong team in Austin.”
The puck drops on the second-to-last weekend of the Titan Machinery Dakota Cup at 7:15 PM on Friday at the VFW Sports Center before shifting southeast to Odde Ice Center Saturday with an identical start time.
Tickets for the inter-Dakota matchup are on sale by calling the Bobcat Box Office at 222-3300; fans can buy and print tickets online right now at BismarckBobcats.com.
Friday's rivalry 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 6:45 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.