Mason City, IA- On a frigid Friday night at the Mason City Arena, the North Iowa Bulls began their weekend home-and-home series against the St. Cloud Norsemen in a 6-3 final. North Iowa jumped on the Norsemen quicky with a trio of goals in the opening stanza. Jack Holland banged one in on a rebound chance 6:30 into the game for his 3rd goal of the season. Denis Kuzmenkov did likewise for his 12th of the year with just 4:16 left to play in the first. The two goals sandwiched St. Cloud’s lone first period tally, which came from Sam Crane. The highlight of the frame came in its waning minutes when Fuji Suzuki glided end to end and ripped a goal into the top shelf of the net for the first of his night. Defenseman Marat Mikhin set his career high in points with three assists, all coming in the first period.
“We came out super fast, super physical,” said Mikhin of the Bulls effort. “I saw space and time at the point, so I took shots. Two of them ultimately went in thanks to my teammates. It’s a great night for us.”
Each team scored once in the middle stanza, with William Esterbrook doing the honors for St. Cloud early in the frame and Bobby Thornton finishing the period’s scoring for his 3rd tally of the season in the late stages of the frame.
North Iowa put the game out of reach early in the third period. First, Niko Russ put in a rebound for his fourth goal of the season. Then, just 15 second into a five-minute major penalty kill, Fuji Suzuki netted his league leading and club single season record 5th shorthanded goal on a breakout for his 2nd goal of the night and his team leading 22nd goal of the season. St. Cloud earned one more goal late on a long range shot from Avry Shaw, but North Iowa slammed the door on a 6-3 win.
Andrej Tomasec and Zach Howard each recorded a pair of assists to help power the Bulls’ offensive effort.
Charlie Durkin notched his 3rd win in just his 5th game played with a 26 save performance on 29 shots faced.
With Suzuki’s shorthanded tally in the third, North Iowa now sits in 4th in the NAHL for shorthanded goals as a team with 9.
The Bulls & Norsemen go to battle tomorrow night at the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex. Puck drop is slated for 6:30 PM.