Bobcats take game three from Bruins
Published 9:59 pm Friday, April 27, 2012
Nolan Kirley presses Bismarck's Daniel Kovar during the second period of game three in the NAHL Central Division championship series Friday night at Riverside Arena. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin Bruins finished with a fury, but it wasn’t enough as they lost game three of the NAHL Central Division Championship Series by a score of 3-2 to Bismarck, N.D. at Riverside Arena Friday.
Austin's Joe Siers steps up to check Bismarck's Shane Omdahl during the first period of game 3 in the NAHL Central Division championship series Friday night at Riverside Arena. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bobcats (49-15-2 overall) scored the first three goals of the game as Castan Sommer hit a slapshot from just inside the blue line to make it 1-0 and Patrick Moore added a slapshot at the tail end of a powerplay to make it 2-0.
The Bruins (40-21-6 overall) answered with a couple of scoring chances, but the Bobcats put a dent in that comeback when Adam Knochenmus scored with just over a minute left in the second period.
“We were finally playing good hockey and they went down and scored,” Austin head coach Chris Tok said. “I thought that really hurt us.”
The Bruins, play a must-win game against Bismarck in Riverside Saturday at 7:05 p.m., out-shot the Bobcats 11-2 in the third period and they had a few game-tying shots in the last minute as Matt Hansen and Christian Folin were denied on shots after Austin had pulled it’s goalie.
Unfortunately for Austin, its late surge came too late.
“We asked the guys how many minutes of hockey they played tonight and it was roughly twenty,” Tok said. “You can’t expect to win a playoff game like that, especially against Bismarck. They’re hard and they don’t give you a ton of chances.”
Austin pulled to within 3-2 when AJ Reid rebounded a Tyler Waldoch shot with 1:29 left in the game.
While the Bruins got off to a slow start, Tok didn’t think it was because of lack of effort.
“We came out of the gate all right, but I thought we were nervous,” Tok said. “Getting the power play (early on) I think actually hurt us because we didn’t seem to be able to make passes and everybody got frustrated. Then Bismarck played some pretty good hockey and we got out of it.”
Austin's Jonathan Gehrt turns to locate a loose puck in front of the Bismarck net during the second period of game three in the NAHL Central Division championship series Friday night at Riverside Arena. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins now trail the series 2-1 and must win Saturday in Austin and Monday in Bismarck, N.D. to advance to the Robertson Cup.
SCORING SUMMARY
Bismarck 1 2 0 — 3
Austin 0 0 2 — 2
First period
(B) Castan Sommer (Adam Knochenmus) 15:38
Second period
(B) Patrick Moore (powerplay) (Jeremy Okeefe, Daniel Zawacki) 12:32
(B) Knochenmus (Zawacki) 18:54
Third period
(A) Chris Fischer (AJ Reid) 9:05
(A) Reid (extra attacker) (Trevor Waldoch, Christian Folin) 18:31
Powerplays: Austin — 0-for-3; Bismarck — 1-for-4
Shots: Austin — 25; Bismarck — 20
