In a game where neither team could get a cushion, the North Iowa Bulls escaped with a 7-5 victory over the Twin City Steel.
No lead was more than two goals during the contest, and the winning goal was scored by Jake Johnson at 12:39 of the third period.
North Iowa managed to stay out of the box better than usual, totaling one minor for two minutes in penalty time. The Bulls wound up below its season average of 18.0 penalty minutes per game. North Iowa\’s offense rang up 66 shots on Twin City\’s net. The Bulls\’ normally stingy defense allowed more goals than usual. North Iowa is averaging 2.3 goals against for the season. The Bulls capitalized on the Steel\’s penalties, netting three goals while skating with a man advantage.
North Iowa also got points from Conor Durgan, who also grabbed one goal and one assist and Jack Stang, who also registered one goal and two assists to lead the team in points. Others who scored for North Iowa included Johnny Panvica, Tommy Heinzman, Jake Mullendore, and Tyler Johnson, who each put in one. More assists for North Iowa came via Kurt Halbach, Joe Kleven, and Joe Burgmeier, who contributed one each and Adam Orn, Brett Gravelle, and Trey Gardner, who each chipped in two.
Twin City forced North Iowa\’s netminders to work all game long, ripping 36 shots and forcing 31 saves. Chris Amsden made 19 stops and David Johnson made 12.
The Steel were led by Tom Reilly, who racked up one goal and two assists. Reilly scored 3:20 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Twin City. Chris Skordilis picked up the assist. Twin City additionally got points from Jake McGlocklin, who also tallied one goal and one assist. Twin City also had goals scored by Mathias Ahman, Jake McAfee, and Aharon Lara, who scored one goal each. In addition, Twin City received assists from Jared Erickson, who had two and Kyle Wagner, Joe Costello, and Tristan Mayer, who contributed one each.
Twin City\’s Parker Butler stopped 59 shots out of the 65 that he faced. The Steel incurred eight minutes in penalty time with four minors.