ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The North American 3 Hockey League’s record books may need a few revisions after Friday night’s North Iowa Bulls win at the Chicago Bulldogs. North Iowa put nine players on the score sheet at Canlan Ice Sports in the first game of a three-game weekend set, including five multi-goal games and three hat tricks, in an 18-1 victory. The win moved the Bulls to 10-2-0 for the season and turned a seven-game winning streak into an eight-game run. The Bulls out-shot their hosts 88-19 in the contest, setting new NA3HL single-team records for goals, points and shots in a game.
Zach Hayes‘s (Bartlett, Ill./Team Illinois) tally at 3:22 of the opening period touched off the scoring for the Bulls, with five more coming before the end of the period. Connor Clemons (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake H.S.) scored two of his three goals in the opening stanza of the game.
Eight more goals in the next 20 minutes eventually forced Joe Timmerman from the contest, after stopping 44 of the 58 shots he faced in the opening two periods. Kristian Kause (Tampere, Finland/Ilves) nearly managed a natural hat trick in the opening 8:28 of the period, including back-to-back goals just 19 seconds apart. Only Marshall Barnes‘s (Edina, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) first goal of the night at 3:39 held Kause back from notching three straight. With goals at 13:45 and 19:30, Barnes had his hat trick in hand before the following intermission.
Jason Miner‘s (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park H.S.) goal at 13:39 gave North Iowa the single-game scoring record, and Mitch Dolter‘s (Faribault, Minn./Shattuck-St. Mary’s) goal just 70 seconds later capped a night full of offense for the Bulls. After allowing 18 straight, the Bulldogs did finally get one on the board, with just 2:04 remaining on Bryce Freel’s powerplay goal.
Every Bulls skater notched at least one point, with Barnes and Owen Larson‘s (Edina, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) eight apiece garnering game-high honors. Only Twin City’s Jace Childs (in 2013) has scored more points in a single NA3HL game, racking up 10. In all, North Iowa racked up a league-record 50 points.
Josh Benson (Stillwater, Minn./Brookings Blizzard) finished up the night just short of a shutout, holding off 18 of the Bulldogs’ 19 scoring opportunities. The previous record for goals in a game belonged to the Wisconsin Whalers, who dropped 17 goals on Chicago in a game this past January. The Whalers also held the previous single-game shots record, with a Valentine’s Day barrage against Battle Creek.
The Bulls and ‘Dogs meet up again this evening, with a 5:30 p.m. start at Canlan Ice Sports in Romeoville. Tonight’s game will stream live on HockeyTV.