The Austin Bruins showed they were in it for the fight, but they ran into a hot goalie as they lost to the Minot Minotauros 2-0 in Riverside Arena Friday.

Nicholas Grabko stopped all 30 of the shots he saw for Minot (12-5 overall) as Austin wasn’t able to crack through. The Minotauros grabbed a 1-0 lead when Andrew Kangas scored on a first period breakaway opportunity during a power play and that lead stood until late in the third period, when Derek Henbrant scored an empty netter for Minot.

“Their goalie played well and we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” Austin head coach Steve Howard said. “You’ve got to give it to them, he played well. It’s frustrating.”

The game started on a rough note for Austin (11-3-0-3 overall) when Connor Mylymok was ejected for fighting with Minot’s Brennan Couet, who had been called for a boarding penalty on the play. The ejection came just two minutes into the contest and there were a couple of scrums that followed later in the game.

“I didn’t mind our play at all,” Howard said. “The played a chippy game and I was a little upset wi the calls because on their penalties, you could hurt somebody and they only get two minutes. (At the beginning of the game) we lose a guy protecting his teammate.”

Kyle McClellan stopped 16 of the 17 shots he saw in net for Austin.

SCORING SUMMARY

Minot 0 1 1  —  2

Austin 0 0 0  —  0

First period

No scoring

Second period

(M) Andrew Kangas (Connor McGinnis) (power play) :49

Third period

(M) Didrik Henbrant 18:46

Power plays: Austin — 0-for-7; Minot — 1-for-3

Shots: Austin — 30; Minot — 18