Bobcats Book Ticket to Blaine Following 3-1 Series Win over Bruins

The Bismarck Bobcats were back on the road this weekend to take on the Austin Bruins in games 3 & 4 of the Central Division Finals.   

Friday night was game 3 and once again it would prove to be a low-scoring tight contest. The Bobcats didn’t get the start that they wanted to on Friday as Austin dominated the opening 20 minutes. However, Tomas Anderson kept the Bobcats in the game as the 1st period would end scoreless with Austin outshooting Bismarck 14-8.         

The 2nd period was a lot tighter and the Bobcats came out with a better effort as they would be rewarded in the final minutes of the middle frame. Charlie Sandven caught the Bruins in a change, advanced the puck himself into the offensive zone and found a cutting Nick Snyder near the blue paint who tapped it home to make it 1-0 Bobcats. Bismarck would enter the 3rd period up 1-0.         

Austin would fight back with a goal in the middle stages of the 3rd to tie the game up at 1. Following the media timeout, Bismarck would have a draw in the offensive zone. Snyder pulled it back and Louie Kamienski unleashed a howitzer into the back of the net to make it 2-1 Bobcats. Austin put together a late push, but the Bobcats hung on to take a 2-1 series lead heading into game 4. 

Moving ahead to Saturday’s game, the Bobcats opened up the game much better and struck twice in the opening period. Snyder crashed the net once again and pounded home a 2nd chance opportunity to put the Bobcats up 1-0. Later in the period, Kyle Doll deked his way into the slot and backhanded the puck to the top of the right wing circle as he found Josh Lehto on the one-timer to make it 2-0 heading into the 1st intermission.   

The Bobcats were able to find a tally within the first five minutes of the 2nd as a seeing-eye shot was deflected by Jakub Kopecky in front of the net as Bismarck took a 3-0 lead. Austin responded just 2 minutes later to get on the board, but then the offense slowed down in the remainder of the 2nd. The Bobcats would head into the 3rd with a 3-1 lead, shots for that period were 6-5 in favor of Austin. .

In the 3rd period, things got a little tense as Austin pulled within one just 2 minutes into the 3rd period. The Bobcats dug deep after that and notched 4 unanswered goals to pull away with the 7-2 victory. Goals in the 3rd period were scored by Lehto, Kenne, Rowan, and Snyder. 

With that victory, the Bobcats became 2025 Central Cup Champions for the first time since 2016 and will be playing in the Robertson Cup Semi-Finals this Friday in Blaine, MN at Fogerty Ice Arena, against the Rochester Jr. Americans.  

Tickets for the Robertson Cup can be found on the NAHL social media pages and the NAHL.com website as well.