Bruins Take Friday Night from ‘Tauros, 3-1

Apr 30, 2021

AUSTIN, Minn. – The Austin Bruins continued their battle for the playoffs with a big win over the Minot Minotauros, 3-1 on Friday night.

Coming into the game, the Bruins trailed the Minnesota Wilderness for the fourth and final playoff spot by just three standings points. After the first period with no scoring, the Bruins put a straight-line on the scoreboard halfway through the second. Coming into the zone with an odd-man rush, Sutter Muzzatti, Barrett Brooks, and Carson Riddle executed a crisp passing play which resulted in Riddle’s thirteenth goal of the season and the 1-0 Bruins lead. It only took 59 total seconds before the Bruins struck again, this time it was Reggie Millette who pounded home his tenth goal of the year, his first of the night, when a loose puck was blocked off bodies in front and landed right on his tape.

In the third period, Austin struggled to stay out of the penalty box, but it didn’t seem to affect their offensive production. Following a blocked shot, Millette and Peter Jacobs walked into Minot’s end on a two-on-one, and instead of passing across ice, Millette pulled the trigger and sniped one past ‘Tauros goalie Carter Clafton for the shorthanded goal. It was Millette’s second goal of the night, his second short-handed goal of the season, and put the Bruins out front, 3-0. Almost ten minutes later, the Minotauros would end goalie Hudson Hodges’ shutout streak with a bouncing puck that flipping over the outstretched pad of the Bruins netminder and into the back of the net. Scoring for the ‘Tauros was Max Bogdanovich, his third goal of the season.

In total, Hodges turned aside 31 of 32 Minot shots in the game to earn the victory, while Clafton stopped 19 of 22 Bruins’ chances in the loss. With the victory, the Bruins improve to 18-26-4-3 on the year and by virtue of the Norsemen and Wilderness losses, are now only one standing point behind the Wilderness for that final playoff spot. The Bruins and ‘Tauros will meet again tomorrow night at Riverside Arena to finish out the regular-season series between the two clubs. Tickets for tomorrow night’s game are on sale now by going to www.austinbruins.com/single-game-tickets. Season tickets for the Bruins are also available by visiting www.austinbruins.com/season-tickets and with early bird pricing currently ongoing, it’s never been more affordable to get season tickets than right now.