AUSTIN, Minn. – In a tightly contested game, the Austin Bruins fell to the Janesville Jets in heartbreaking fashion, 2-1, on Saturday night. With the overtime loss, Austin earned three out of a possible four points on the weekend and maintained pace in the early Central Division standings.
Following their victory on Friday night, the Bruins came out of the gate strong and killed off an early penalty in the first two minutes of the contest. Immediately after returning to full-strength, Austin opened the game’s scoring for the second night of the weekend when Mason Pool ripped a shot past Janesville netminder, Owen Millward. After scoring the goal in the first three minutes of the game, each team buckled down defensively. It wasn’t until mid-way through the second that another goal was scored, and unfortunately for Austin, it went in favor of Janesville.
Despite having the man-advantage, a defensive-zone turnover lead to a mini-breakaway for Janesville forward Jake Sacritini who slipped a shot past Bruins goalie Tyler Shea to even the game at one goal apiece. Tempers flared in the middle frame as the physicality picked up, but neither team managed to get a noticeable advantage from the scrappy play.
Both Millward and Shea stood strong throughout the third period, with Austin managing to kill off a late-game penalty to Peter Jacobs which carried into the overtime period. The Bruins snapped off a couple of opportunities in the 3-on-3 period, but with only a minute and three seconds remaining in the extra time, Xavier Lapointe walked up the right-wing boards and fired off a wrist shot that beat Tyler Shea and earned the Jets the 2-1 victory.
With the loss, the Bruins fall to 1-0-1-0 on the season while Janesville improves to 3-1-0-0. Tyler Shea was dealt the loss despite stopping 27 of 29 shots he faced while Owen Millward earned the victory and was good on 22 of 23 chances. As for special teams, both teams were perfect on the penalty kill with Austin killing off a total of three infractions while Janesville was successful on three opportunities.
Up next for Austin, they take on the Minnesota Wilderness on Friday, November 20 at Riverside Arena. The game will be the Bruins first against a divisional opponent and tickets are on sale now for the contest by visiting www.austinbruins.com/single-game-tickets.
