AUSTIN, Minn. – In the final game of the 2020-21 season, and the final game for seven Austin Bruins’ players, the black-and-gold finished off the year on a high note with an 8-7 victory over the St. Cloud Norsemen on Friday night.
Many of the Bruins age-outs got involved in the scoring on Friday night, but it was one of their rookies who kicked things off. Walter Zacher won a loose puck battle in the neutral zone and walked in on Paxton Geisel and netted his first of two goals on the night. Peter Jacobs, playing in his final game in junior hockey, put the Bruins up 2-0 with his third goal on the weekend when he batted the puck out of mid-air over the shoulder of Geisel. The Bruins let St. Cloud pull within 2-1 but the Bruins kept powering on. It was Zacher who scored his second goal of the game, much in the same fashion as his first, by knocking down a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat Geisel on a breakaway for the 3-1 Bruins lead. After Brett Chorske brought the Norsemen back to within one, in the first the teams headed to the locker room with Austin out in front 3-2.
In the second, the Bruins surrendered their lead allowing the Norsemen to tie the game at 3-3. Austin, who didn’t trail at any point in the game would retake their lead with a little over 12 minutes left to go in the middle frame as Grayson Valente knocked home a two-on-one pass for the 4-3 lead. St. Cloud just wouldn’t go away and Blake Mesenberg found the equalizer later on evening things at four goals apiece. no time getting on the board for their fourth time of the night. The two teams would trade goals again, with Barrett Brooks scoring his twenty-first goal of the season followed by Nick Young for St. Cloud making the game 5-5 after two.
In the third, the Bruins took back their two-goal lead when Garrett Dahm and Travis Shoudy helped Austin out to a 7-5 lead. Once again, St. Cloud pulled within one. Sutter Muzzatti would score the Bruins eighth goal of the game, and despite a final Norsemen goal, Austin held on for the victory to end their season.
In total, five of the Bruins 20-year olds registered points in the game including Reggie Millette, Garrett Dahm, Connor Mylymok, Grayson Valente, and Peter Jacobs. It wasn’t a night for defense or goaltending, but it was a night for Riverside Arena fans to remember. The eight goals were a season-high for the Bruins who finished the 2020-21 season with a 22-26-5-3 record.
