Austin Bruins down St. Cloud Norsemen Friday evening 5-3
Jens Richards tallied two goals and an assist and Alex Trombley added three assists as the Austin Bruins rallied in the third period of their game Friday night in St. Cloud versus the Norsemen to win 5-3 at the Municipal Athletic Complex.
Richards scored the first Bruins goal at 1:28 of the second period, his seventh of the season with assists to Alex Trombley, his fourth and to Franklin Dovorany, his second of the year at 1:28 to tie the game at one, but the Norsemen took the lead back with a goal by Kade Peterson at 16:02 to lead 2-1 at the end of two periods.
The trio of Richards, Trombley and Dovorany then combined to tie the game at 2 at 8:24 of the third period, but St. Cloud took the lead back at 3-2 with a penalty shot goal from Blake Perbix at 11:54. Undeterred, the Bruins came roaring back as Sutter Muzzati and and Austin Salani each tallied their first goals of the season at 13:25 and :45 second later at 14:10 to give the Bruins a lead they would not relinquish at 4-3. Therien Thiesing earned his third assist of the season and Dylan Gajewski his fourth on Muzzati’s goal, and Trombley picked up his third assist of the night and his sixth of the season, while Richards chipped in an assist as well, his fifth of the season and his third point of the night on Salani’s go-ahead goal. Carson Riddle capped the scoring for Austin with an empty-net, short-handed tally at 19:46, his sixth goal of the year to make the final 5-3.
Hudson Hodges turned away 24 of the 27 shots he faced for the Bruins to improve his record on the season in net to 4-1, while Ethan Dahlmier also faced 27 shots and made 23 saves in taking the loss for St. Cloud. Austin was 0-3 on the power play, while St. Cloud was 2 for 5 with the man advantage.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 6-2-1 on the season for 13 points, good for second place in the NAHL’s Central Division behind the front-running North Iowa Bulls, who currently have 15 points. Austin is back at Riverside Arena this Friday and Saturday against the Bismark Bobcats, with faceoff each evening at 7:00 p.m.
