MINOT, ND – Never say die! Once trailing 3-0, the Austin Bruins complete an improbable comeback to steal a 4-3 win against the Minotauros.
Coming into Friday night, the Bruins and Minotauros would be tied on top of the standing in the Central Division. The first meeting of the season would be in Minot as the two teams would meet for the first of four straight games. Six minutes into the first period, American International College commit Hunter Longi would snap home his 7th goal of the season to give Minot the early 1-0 lead. Late in the period, Jan-Kasper Bergman would get his first career NAHL on a Power Play goal to beat Ethan Robertson near side to make it a 2-0 lead for the Minotauros after the first twenty minutes in Minot.
Minot would add salt to the wound during the second period, as David Nesberg would make it a 3-0 lead for the Minotauros at the 6:33 mark of the 2nd period. Minot’s goalie, Lawton Zacher, the younger brother of Bruins forward Walter, would be pitching a shutout of the Bruins through two periods of action in Minot. That however would all change in the 3rd period.
The comeback would begin at the 4:04 mark of the e third period Ocean Wallace would get his 2nd goal of the season as he snuck one past Lawton Zacher to get the first goal of the night for the Bruins. From there, the Bruins did not let off the gas. Two minutes later, Sam Christiano would get his first career NAHL goal as he would tap home a rebound of the initial shot from Austin Salani. Ethan Robertson wouldn’t see many shots during the third period, but the ones he did would be big saves to keep the Bruins in the game trailing by one goal. That would change at the 15:34 mark of the third period when Ethan Lindahl would get the third goal of the period and tie the game up at 3-3 to force overtime.
Five minutes of overtime would not be enough as the Bruins would end up going to their sixth shootout of the season. It would take nine rounds, and goals from Walter Zacher, Ocean Wallace, and Ethan Lindahl, but the Bruins would complete the comeback and come away with the big 4-3 win in the Magic City.
The Bruins wrap up their season-long six-game road trip tomorrow night as they look for the weekend sweep of the Minotauros.
