Bruins struggle on power play in loss
Published 11:10 am Sunday, November 11, 2012
Austin's Michael Bond rides Bismarck's Patrick Moore into the boards during the first period Saturday night at Riverside Arena.
The Austin Bruins came into this past weekend riding a five-game winning streak, but things took a turn for the worse Saturday night as the Bruins fell to Bismarck 5-1 one day after losing to Minot in a shootout in Riverside Arena.
The Bruins' Nolan Kirley tries to poke the puck through the legs of Bismarck goalie Aaron Nelson Saturday night in the second period at Riverside Arena.
Austin (12-3-4 overall) mustered just 23 shots on goal against Bismarck, while coming up short on all nine of its power play attempts in the loss.
“You don’t want to get your tail handed to you in front of your home crowd,” Austin head coach Chris Tok said. “I can’t even put into words how embarrassing it is that you can come out with that type of effort. It’s a disgrace to the game of hockey if that’s all we can do in front of our home fans. They’ve been so good to us and that’s all we can give them back.”
Bismarck (8-9-1 overall) came out firing in the first period as it scored three goals in a three-minute span to go up 3-0. Shane Omdahl, who finished with a hat trick, knocked in a one-timer, Patrick Moore scored on a breakaway and Joe Giordano floated when around Bruins goalie Nicholas Lehr, who finished with 15 saves.
Austin skated a little better in the second period as CJ Smith got Austin in the board when he recovered a puck behind the net and sliced it into the net, but Austin couldn’t get much offense in the third period.
Tok said the loss was a humbling one for his team.
“I can’t pin point what it is,” Tok said. “My gut feeling tells me is that our guys think they’re better than they are, they’re heads are a little big and they’ve probably got people telling them how good they are. They forget the basics and we tried to tell them earlier in the week that we need to do the basics.”
After dropping two in a row, Austin is now tied with Brookings for first place in the NAHL Central Division. The Bruins are hoping that games like the losses to Minot and Bismarck will be a thing of the past as the season rolls on.
The Bruins Nate Mondry tries to turn the corner toward the net against Bismarck in the second period Saturday night at Riverside Arena.
“We just think we can show up and we’re that good and we can just win,” Tok said. “(Bismarck and Minot) came in the building and worked harder than we did and came away with points. That’s not acceptable.”
Austin will have a quick turnaround with a chance to get back on track as it plays at Coulee Region (3-10-4 overall) Monday at 7 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
Bismarck 3 0 2 – 5
Austin 0 1 0 – 1
First period
(B) Shane Omdahl (Patrick Moore, Adam Knochenmus) 11:11
(B) Patrick Moore (Knochenmus) 11:29
(B) Joe Giordano (Cory Chapman, Levi Blom) 14:35
Second period
(A) CJ Smith (Brandon Wahlin, John Simonson) 5:16
Third period
(B) Omdahl (powerplay) (Knochenmus, Moore) 14:12
(B) Omdahl (powerplay) (Knochenmus, Moore) 17:34
Shots: Austin – 23; Bismarck – 20
Powerplays: Austin – 0-for-9; Bismarck – 2-for-4
