12-1, 12-2, 12-3 Weekend Recap
By Meghann Norrbom
After a three game weekend, the Minnesota Blue Ox continue to rally and improve to 21-1-1 on the season.
New Positions:
Down a few men, due to illness, the Blue Ox were forced to switch up a few positions and placed two forwards on defense for the night. The newly arranged positions, for some, didn’t prove to be a challenge in the first period as the Blue Ox scored 5 goals in the first period alone. Goals from Kristian Kause, Eric Swenson, Mitchell Weiland, Orlando Scherz, and Chris Ciolek gave the Blue Ox the 5-1 advantage coming out of the first. Phil Schader would tally a power play goal in the second and Tyler Depuy along with Gunnar Gibbs would give the Blue Ox the final edge with goals in the third. The Blue Ox took down the Yoopers by a score of 8-5 and had 48 shots on goal for the night. Brady Boudreau tallied his 10th win in net and blocked 21 shots on goal from the Yoopers.
First Times:
The Blue Ox got off to a solid start scoring 4 goals in the first period alone. Bailey Emery started the Ox off with the first two goals on shots that snuck right under the goalie’s legs. Two minutes later, Mitchell Weiland scored his second goal of the weekend right off the face off to give the Ox a 3 goal lead. To close out the first Kyle Kester poked the puck right through the goalie’s legs to put the Blue Ox up 4-2 at the end of the first. The lone goal of the second came from the Finnish defenseman, Oskari Halme, with his signature forehand backhand goal. The third period proved to be the most exciting as Nick Spolec picked up his first goal as a Minnesota Blue Ox. Josh Greune finished his 10th win in net and ended the night with a .889 save percentage. The Blue Ox tallied their 20th win of the season, over the Yoopers, by a score of 6-3.
Overtime Battle:
The Sunday night overtime battle got off to a 2-2 start with goals from Kause and Scherz cleared passed the Mullets. The Mullets answered back with two goals of their own at the end of the first period. To start the second period, Halme did his signature forehand backhand goal and midway through the second Kause scored his second goal of the night. Halme charted another goal at the end of the second period to put the Blue Ox up 5-3. The Mullets came out in the third swinging and tied up the score to push the game into overtime. Heading into 3-on-3 overtime, Oskari Halme crossed in front of the net and snuck the puck around the goalie for the win! Brady Boudreau finished his 11th win in net and blocked 23 shots on goal. The Blue Ox now sit 21-1-1 after this overtime win!
The Minnesota Blue Ox will travel to Spooner, Wisconson on Friday, December 8th to face off against the Wisconsin Muskies at 7:30 pm. The Blue Ox return home on Saturday, December 9th for Toys for Tots Night. The Blue Ox will drop the puck against the Steele County Blades at 7 pm on Saturday.
For Friday night’s stats, click the link below!
http://www.usphl.com/game/show/20074378?subseason=392947&referrer=3442737
For Saturday night’s stats, click the link below!
http://www.usphl.com/game/show/20074394?subseason=392947&referrer=3442737
For Sunday night’s stats, click the link below!
http://www.usphl.com/game/show/20074411?subseason=392947&referrer=3442737