AUSTIN, Minn. – Coming off their win over the Wilderness on Wednesday night, the Bruins continued to play well but fell to their division rival Aberdeen Wings, 3-1, on Friday night.
For the first time since November the Austin Bruins squared off with the Aberdeen Wings and for the first time this season, the two clubs met in Austin. The scoring didn’t get started until the second period, and much to the Riverside Arena fans it went in favor of the Wings. Six minutes into the middle period, Spencer Schneider netted his 11th goal of the season when a slow-rolled slipped past Tyler Shea. Austin had to wait until the last minute of the second period to see the score evened thanks to Ben Dexheimer. While on the power-play, the Miami of Ohio commit walked in front of the net a rifled a shot on Aberdeen goalie Jake Sibell which rebounded off his pad and came right back to Dexheimer. The defenseman managed to flag the puck out of mid-air and stuff it in past Sibell evening things at 1-1 with only 50 seconds remaining the period. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the only final-minute goal of the second period as Aberdeen retook their lead 30 seconds later, with 20 seconds remaining in the frame when Cullen Ferguson ripped a wrist shot over Shea’s glove hand.
In the third, the Bruins began on the power-play but couldn’t cash in for a second time on the night. The Wings added an empty-netter in the final two minutes of the third to seal the 3-1 victory.
With the loss, the Bruins fell to 7-11-2-2 on the season while the Wings improved to 24-1-0-1 on the year. Tyler Shea turned aside 36 of 38 Aberdeen shots while earning the loss and Jake Sibell was good on 20 of 21 Bruins chances. Austin had a successful night on special teams going 1-for-4 on the power-play, and on the penalty kill, they kept the top-ranked Wings power-play scoreless.
The two teams meet again on Saturday, February 13 for a rematch. The newly announced capacity increase takes effect for the game on Saturday, allowing Austin to have 250 fans in attendance, a 100 person increase from Friday night. Tickets for Saturday night’s game are available online by visiting www.austinbruins.com/single-game-tickets.
