ST. CLOUD, MN – For the second time in two meetings, the Austin Bruins and the St. Cloud Norsemen would need more than sixty minutes of regulation to decide a contest. Ocean Wallace and Trent Wiemken help lead the Bruins to a shootout win in St. Cloud.
After having a week off, the Austin Bruins traveled up to St. Cloud on Friday night to take on the Norsemen for the first game of the weekend home-and-home series. It would be the Norsemen who would strike first as two minutes into the game, Hudson Blue would net his first of the season to give St. Cloud the early 1-0 lead. Hagen Moe would extend that lead to 2-0, when we would score a breakaway goal a little over twelve minutes later for the Norsemen. After that, Trent Wiemken and the Bruins would settle in and take control. Jackson Luther would get the Bruins on the board with his first of the season at 18:25 into the 1st to pull the Bruins within a goal after the first period.
It would not take very long into the 2nd period for the Bruins to tie things up. Dylan Cook would collect his 3rd of the season at the 4:03 mark of the period to tie the game up at 2-2. Both teams would have some chances in the 3rd period to take the lead, but it would ultimately require more than three periods and a 5-minute overtime.
Austin Salani would start things off for the Bruins in the shootout but would be denied by Norsemen Goalie Ryan Manzella. Lucca Munoz would try to give the Norsemen the advantage, but a low blocker save by Trent Wiemken would keep things even after the first round. Ocean Wallace would get the nod in the shootout as the ’03 forward from Boulder, Colorado would fake out Manzella with a highlight reel shot to give the Bruins the shootout lead. From there, Wiemken would shut down both Tyler Dysart and Michael Colemen to help the Bruins secure a 3-2 win.
Both teams return to action tomorrow night at Riverside Arena to wrap up the weekend series. Puck drop is set at 7:05 PM CST.
