Austin Bruins sweep North Iowa Bulls 6-1 Saturday evening
Coming off a 5-1 win on their home ice over the North Iowa Bulls Friday night, the Austin Bruins were looking for a sweep of the NAHL Central Division weekend series between the two clubs in Mason City Saturday evening, and the Bruins used three second-period goals and three goals on the power play to win by a 6-1 score.
Gustav Noren started the scoring for Austin with a power-play goal at 7:30 of the first period, his 11th overall for the season, with assists to Dylan Cook, his 25th, and to Connor Brust, his 16th to make the score 1-0. After North Iowa tied the game with a power-play goal of their own at 15:21 of the period, Jackson Luther’s fifth goal of the season at 12:53 of the second period wound up to be the eventual game-winner, with assists to Ryan Hintz, his second, and to Jackson Rilei, his fourth, and Ocean Wallace’s 16th goal of the season :28 seconds later at 13:21 made the score 3-1, with another assist to Cook, his second of the game and 26th of the season, and to Connor Brust, his 17th. Alex Laurenza’s 15th goal of the year at 18:46 of the period put the Bruins in front 4-1, with assists to Austin Salani, his 28th, and to Gustav Noren, his 16th, and a pair of third period power-play goals, one for Trip Pendy, his first of the season at 14:32, with assists to Connor Brust, his 18th, and to Salani, his second of the game and 29th of the year, and Wallace’s second of the game and 17th of the season just over a minute later at 15:39, with assists to Damon Furseth, his 19th, and to Will Diamond, his sixth, accounted for the 6-1 final.
The Bruins outshot the Bulls 35-22 for the game, with Bruins netminder Vilgot Holm turning away 21 of the 22 shots he faced to earn the win between the pipes, and North Iowa used both Connor Graham, who played the first period and made two saves in facing three shots, and also Santo Simmchen, who played the last two periods and made 20 saves in facing 23 shots. The Bruins were whistled for seven penalties for 14 minutes, while North Iowa was called for seven penalties for 35 minutes, and Austin was 3 for 6 overall on the power play, while the Bulls were 1 for 5.
With the weekend sweep, the Bruins are now 23-18-2-1-1 for 49 points and fourth place in the Central Division, as they now hold the last playoff spot in the division thanks to the St. Cloud Norsemen being swept by Minot over the weekend. Austin will travel to Minot for a weekend series with the first-place Minotauros Friday and Saturday, with face-off at 7:35 p.m. both evenings.
