AUSTIN, MN – After picking up four much-needed points over the weekend, the Bruins now find themselves in 3rd in the Central Division standings.
The Bruins would match up with the St. Cloud Norsemen for a two-game home-and-home series with Friday’s contest in St. Cloud. The first period would see each team challenging one another, as Trent Wiemken for the Bruins and Max Weilandt for the Norsemen would come up with some big-time stops to keep things scoreless after the first twenty minutes of action.
Just ten seconds into the 2nd period, we would see our first, and only goal of the night. Dylan Cook would score his 12th of the season with Ocean Wallace and Austin Salani combining on the assist to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead and from there, they would shut it down. Trent Wiemken and company would weather the flurry of shots the Norsemen would throw the Bruins’ way, but ultimately Wiemken would pick up his 4th shutout of the season after a 29-save performance.
After the win Friday night, the series would shift down to Austin and the Bruins looked to complete the weekend sweep. Swedish-born goaltender Vilgot Holm would get the start for the Bruins as that would be the only change in the lineup for the Bruins on Saturday. Unlike Friday, the Bruins would capitalize in the first period, as Gustav Noren would collect his 12th goal of the season at the 18:42 mark of the first to give the Bruins the lead late in the period. Will Diamond would collect the lone assist, his 7th, on the goal from Noren.
St. Cloud would come out strong in the middle frame as they would challenge the Bruins. This led to some big turnovers but Vilgot Holm would stand tall and help keep the 1-0 lead for Austin. That would change, however, as at 7:50 in the 2nd period, Peyton Mithmuangneua would slide one past Holm to pick up his 6th goal of the season for St. Cloud and tie the game up at 1-1.
Going into the 3rd period, the game would be locked up at 1-1 until Reilley Kotai would get one past St. Cloud goaltender Ryan Manzella. This goal would be Kotai’s first in the NAHL and ultimately be the game-winner at 14:34 in the 3rd period. From there, Vilgot Holm would shut things down in route to his 9th win of the season. Holm would turn away 23 of the 24 shots he would face on the night.
With the sweep, the Bruins now find themselves in 3rd in the Central Divison Standings. They look to keep the momentum going this weekend as the Bruins will take on the Norsemen yet again with both games up in St. Cloud. Game time for both Friday and Saturday night is slated for 7:00 pm at the Municipal Athletic Center in St. Cloud.
