Bruins suffer defensive letdown in playoff loss to Minot
Published 10:21 pm Friday, April 4, 2014
Austin’s Jay Dickman tries to weave the puck past Minot’s Scott Dornbrock during second period of the team’s playoff match up Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photdoesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin Bruins didn’t exactly bring their ‘A’ game to their playoff opener as they dropped game one of a five-game series to Minot 8-6 in Riverside Arena.
Austin’s Austin Nelson fires a slapshot on net during the second period in the Bruins’ opening-round playoff game against Minot Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins will have a chance to tie the series back up when they host Minot Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
The Minotauros (25-33-1 overall) scored their eight goals on just 26 shots against Austin goalie Nick Lehr.
“From top to bottom we were bad tonight. We didn’t deserve to win and we didn’t,” Austin head coach Chris Tok said. “The way we played was like a preseason game. You can’t win like that in the playoffs.”
Austin (40-20-1 overall) jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game as Guillaume Leclerc, Niko Hildenbrand and Trey Todd all scored early on, but Minot answered with three goals in six minutes and it never trailed again.
“I thought we were playing pretty bad to get up 3-1,” Tok said. “We weren’t happy with anything tonight. We were playing bad, then you get up 3-1 and then you play worse.”
Austin’s Niko Hildenbrand looks for the puck after checking Minot’s Troy Degler in the second period of the team’s playoff game Friday night at Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Bruins battled back in the second period as Jake Arroyo tied the game at 4-4 and Eli May tied the game at 5-5. MInot took a 6-5 lead into the third, but Luke Dietsch scored a short-handed goal to make it 6-6 early in the third.
MInot took the lead for good when Jacob Howie punched in a one-timer on a power play with 15:57 left in the game.
Tok said that he was worried that Austin would lack a little intensity after having four tough games with Bismarck at the end of the regular season.
“My biggest fear was it would be a letdown because of the drive we had to win the title and how intense those four games were against Bismarck,” Tok said. “I don’t know if anybody needs an ice bag after tonight’s game and last week half the team needed ice bags from blocking shots, running into guys and sticking their noses in there and competing.”
Now the Bruins must regroup and win at least two of their next three if they want to play a game five at home. If they can’t get back on track, their season could slip away.
“We can’t change this,” Tok said. “It was a very pathetic effort and it’s disappointing, but we don’t have time to sulk on it. We’ve got to start thinking about the positive things we’re going to do tomorrow. We’ve got to erase the hard drive and go back to work tomorrow night.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Minot 4 2 2 — 8
Austin 3 2 1 — 6
First period
(A) Guillaume Leclerc (Josh Bretner, Jay Dickman) 2:41
(M) Jake McCann 2:41
(A) Niko Hildenbrand (Luke Dietsch, Brian Bachnak) 5:35
(A) Trey Dodd (short handed) 8:25
(M) Michael Louria (power play) (Jacob Howie) 10:11
(M) Louria 15:27
(M) Jadin Martin (Tim Donohue, Cameron Rowat) 16:09
Second period
(A) Jake Arroyo (Jay Dickman, Austin Nelson) 0:26
(M) Scott Dornbrock 5:59
(A) Eli May (Bachnak, Casey Jerry) 9:15
(M) Donohue (power play) (Kyle Kruenegel, Jordan Stejskal) 19:43
Third period
(A) Dietsch (shorthanded) (Hildenbrand) 2:05
(M) Howie (power play) (Colton Kramer) 4:03
(M) Donohue (empty net) 19:20
Shots: Austin — 39; Minot — 26
Power plays: Austin — 0-for-4; Minot — 3-for-5
