Bobcats Split Home Opening Series Against Bruins

The Bismarck Bobcats took on the Austin Bruins this past weekend to open the 2025-26 regular season at home.   

It was a delight for the Bobcats as they opened the scoring in the 1st period. Defenseman Royce Pietila dumped the puck into the offensive zone, the puck took a home hop off the stanchion glass and right onto the stick of Holden Gallagher who tapped it into the empty net to give the Bobcats a 1-0 advantage. The home side would take the 1-0 lead into the intermission despite being outshot 13-7.          

The 2nd period saw the Bobcats continue their momentum instantaneously as Cooper Williams’ initial shot was stopped, but he followed his rebound and tapped it home just 19 seconds into the 2nd period to double Bismarck’s lead. Just a couple minutes later, Charlie Kresl completed a beautiful give-and-go with Pietila as Kresl received the pass back in the slot and tapped it home to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Austin would not go away quietly. The Bobcats found themselves in a load of penalty trouble in the 2nd period, going down 5 on 3 not once, but twice. On the 2nd 5 on 3, the Bobcats conceded a goal to Siaimon Marshchanok, his 1st NAHL goal to cut the lead to 2. In the late stages, veteran forward Zander Lipsett went bar-down on Kai Weigel to bring the game within one. The Bobcats would enter the 3rd period with a 3-2 lead. Last season Bismarck was undefeated when entering the 3rd period with a lead.          

The 3rd period saw the Bruins, just 9 seconds in, find the back of the net on a deflection to tie the game up at 3. Austin would then tack on two more goals to hop out in front 5-3 with 6 minutes remaining. Bismarck would pull their goaltender and receive a power play in the final minute and a half of the contest. Veteran Gianni DiVita snuck one home on a deflection with 28 seconds left, however, it was too little too late as Austin skated away with the 5-4 victory. 

Final shots on goal read 37-32 in favor of the Bruins, as Kai Weigel stopped 32 of the 37 shots he faced in the loss.  

Moving ahead to Saturday’s game, the Bobcats once again opened the scoring in the contest. Forward Mark Evans called for the puck in the left-wing circle and one-timed the puck glove-side on Butikis, who was playing in his 2nd straight contest. The 1st period overall, looked much better as the Bobcats outshot the Bruins 10-5 and took the lead into the break.   

The 2nd period was much more open as the Bruins began generating opportunities, however, Nils Maurins, who was starting in his first contest since the preseason win in Watford City against the Minotauros, made some key saves to keep the Bobcats up 1-0 heading into the 2nd intermission. Throughout the 2nd period, the Bobcats outshot the Bruins 11-9.

The 3rd period saw the Bobcats employ great game management as they limited Austin to just 2 shots in the opening 13 minutes of the period. Camden Alemond laid a massive body check on Lipsett and freed the puck on the power play which allowed Eddie Revenig to step in and snipe one into the back of the net for his 1st of the season to make it 2-0 Bobcats. The Bobcats got themselves into penalty trouble late in the game and with the goaltender pulled in a 5 on 4 scenario, the Bruins negated Maurins of a shutout, firing one home with 1:22 remaining. The Bobcats would hang on, nonetheless, for the 2-1 victory.

Final shots on goal read 29-23 in favor of Bismarck as they split the weekend series with Austin to move to 1-1-0. The next Bobcat game is Wednesday, September 24th at 1:00 P.M. at the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota, against the Corpus Christi IceRays. Tickets for future Bobcat games and season tickets are available by logging onto www.BismarckBobcats.com