ST. CLOUD, MINN. – It was a great start to Pink Weekend for the Austin Bruins (29-8-2-1. 61 pts) as the team tied its season high win streak with its seventh straight win Friday night 3-1 over the St. Cloud Norsemen (13-22-4-0, 30 pts).
The game started off fairly quick with neither team getting many chances in the first. A turnover behind the net led to a Norsemen goal late in the first from Billy Biedermann to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Bruins were unable to convert on two second period power plays, but that didn’t stop them from tying the game. Just after the second power play expired, newcomer Kyle Sorensen buried the puck in the back of the net for his first goal as a Bruin on a pass net front from Mikey Coleman.
Sorensen was acquired from the Oklahoma Warriors earlier this week in a trade that sent forward Trace Day and defenseman Nolan Davis to Oklahoma. The new Bruins forward is fifth in the NAHL in goals scored with 26 on the year.
The Bruins would head to the second break shorthanded, but easily killed off the final seconds of the St. Cloud power play to begin the third.
Austin would get opportunities late on the power play, eventually taking its first lead of the game just six seconds after Norsemen forward Nolan Smith was sent to the box for a trip. Siamion Marschanok sniped the puck to the back of the twine on a pass from Nathan Williams at 6:07 to extend their point streaks to 25 and 16 straight games, respectively.
Sam Kline provided the dagger on a rebound chance on the power play at 2:25 for his fifth goal of the year and second in the last month.
The Bruins allowed just two shots in the third period, with Cody Butikis stopping 16 of 17 overall for the win.
The Austin Bruins return home Saturday night for Paint the Rink Pink night, the team’s annual event to raise money to benefit cancer research at The Hormel Institute. Limited tickets are available by visiting tickets.austinbruins.com.
