Miller's hat trick highlights Bruins' rout of Knights

Sep 23, 2015

BLAINE, MN – Jade Miller, Evan Cholak, and Paul O'Connor all had multi-goal games while Gilbert Gabor added three assist and Austin Smith registered his first NAHL shutout in an 8-0 Bruins win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights on Wednesday night to open the NAHL showcase.

Miller scored a pair in the first period: at 7:42, and again at 17:49. The first goal was set up on a drop pass from new Bruin Dawson DiPietro and the second was a result of a netmouth scramble after an AJ Drobot opportunity. Paul O'Connor assisted on the first while Drobot and Gilbert Gabor helped on the second goal. The score was 2-0 Bruins after one period.

The Bruins scored two more late in the 2nd period, 31 seconds apart when Evan Cholak took a cross-crease feed from Miller (secondary assist to Gabor) and then Paul O'Connor ripped a shot under the crossbar. Justin Misiak added an assist on O'Connor's tally. It was 4-0 Bruins through two.

Austin's offense broke the game wide open in the 3rd, scoring four times.William Riedell notched a powerplay goal, O'Connor netted his 2nd of the night, Miller completed the hat trick, and Cholak notched his second goal of the game for good measure for the 8-0 final.

Austin Smith stopped all 13 Knights shots for the shutout while Scranton's Andrew Yahmnitsky stoped 22 of 30 before being pulled in favor of Grant Valentine who went 6 for 6.

The Bruins take on the Springfield Jr. Blues on day two of the Showcase, Thursday afternoon at 1:00 PM. The broadcast will begin at 12:50  on FASTHockey.com and also via radio on AM 1480 KAUS and myaustinminnesota.com. Twitter updates will be provided @theaustinbruins.

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