AUSTIN, Minn. – The Bruins began their weekend series against the Aberdeen Wings on the wrong foot after falling 6-1 in Friday night’s game in South Dakota.
For Austin, the game on Friday night at the Odde Ice Center in Aberdeen, SD was their second game of the week. On the other side of the ice, the Wings were well-rested not having played since Saturday of last week in Austin against the Bruins. The home team used that to their advantage jumping out in front in the first period. Tyler Shea got the start in the game but surrendered the first goal when Wings’ forward Liam Fraser took a rebound off the glass and before anyone noticed, put it in the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. Aberdeen stretched their lead to 2-0 later in the period when Peyton Matsui baseball batted a shot out of mid-air that slipped by the outstretched leg of Shea. Midway through the first, the Wings continued to pile on, their third goal slipping between Shea’s legs and suddenly the Wings were up 3-0. After the third goal, Hudson Hodges came on in goal for the Bruins, and while the Moorhead, MN native turned aside all the shots he saw in the first period, the second period wasn’t as kind.
Aberdeen managed to score another three goals against the Bruins, taking their lead to 6-0, before the midway mark of the game. It wasn’t until the final seconds when Austin got their lone tally. Taking a pass from Connor Mylymok, Bruins forward Garrett Dahm walked down the left-wing side and rifled a wrist-shot up and over the glove-arm of Wings’ goalie Jake Sibell, bringing the score to 6-1 in favor of the home team.
Out of the gate in the third, the Bruins came to play with a vengeance. Despite throwing 15 shots on goal, nearly double their total from the first two periods, Austin couldn’t get anything more beyond Sibell and the Wings took Friday night’s game, 6-1. Tyler Shea was the losing goaltender of record after stopping 7 of the 10 shots he saw in the game, while Hudson Hodges turned away 20 of 23. Jake Sibell earned his NAHL leading 25th win of the season by kicking aside 32 of 33 Bruins shots.
The two teams will meet on Saturday, March 6 for the season-series finale at the Odde Center with puck drop coming at 7:15. For the Bruins, once they complete their season series with the Wings, they’re back at home on Thursday, March 11 against the Minnesota Wilderness. Tickets for that game against Minnesota are on sale now by visiting www.austinbruins.com/single-game-tickets.
