Bobcats Return from Bye with Minot Home-and-Home
BISMARCK, ND — After a 13-day layoff following their last regular season game, the Bismarck Bobcats return to action Friday at the VFW Sports Center when they open a two-game home-and-home series against the archrival Minot Minotauros.
In their two previous meetings, the Bobcats claimed a 3-1 home win on October 5 before falling 5-2 the following night at Maysa Arena.
“Over the off-week, we had a lot of things to work on with our players, including improving our 5-on-5 offense and finishing games,” explained Bobcats head coach and general manager Layne Sedevie, whose team held a 2-0 lead on October 6 before five unanswered Minotauro goals, “but at the same time we are 5-3-0 and could just as easily be 7-1-0; there’s a lot of promise there for such a young team.”
With no standings points available to them over the bye weekend, the idle Bobcats slipped to fourth place in the early season Central Division standings but now hold one or two games in hand on the rest of the division.
Bobcat goalie John Roberts has the hot hand in divisional play, stopping 147 of 155 shots sent his way in the Cats’ last four contests. Reinforcements are on the way for the Bobcats, as well: forward Daniel Chladek and blueliner Julian Timba are both slated to return to the lineup Friday while the team also acquired forward Bartek Bison from Fargo of the USHL on Tuesday.
Minot currently boasts the top scorer in the division in Keenan Lund, whose 15 points (5g, 10a) are also good for second-most league-wide. Rookie goalie Nick Grabko started both games against the Bobcats in their previous meetings, stopping 59 of 63 shots in the split.
Friday’s home contest is slated for a 7:15pm puck drop, while Saturday’s road sortie will begin at 7:35pm.
Fans can buy and print tickets 24 hours a day at BismarckBobcats.com or by clicking “Shop Now” at the top of the team’s Facebook page.
Live coverage starts at 6:45pm for Friday’s home tilt on Super Talk 1270 AM, the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, and at HockeyTV.com, the official web television partner of the NAHL.
Pro-rated season tickets for the 2018-19 campaign are still available; lock in your seats for the remaining home schedule today: sign up at BismarckBobcats.com/seasontickets or call 222-3300 for more information!
