TONIGHT’S GAME:
SATURDAY – North Iowa @ New Ulm, 7:10 p.m.
NORTH IOWA BULLS, 2-1-0-0 (ROSTER, STATS)
@ NEW ULM STEEL, 1-0-0-0 (ROSTER, STATS)
COVERAGE: HockeyTV (video/$), Mixlr (audio/free)
BULLS VS. NEW ULM ALL-TIME: 40-7-2
NEXT HOME GAME: The Bulls play five games on the road to begin the 2018-19 season before hosting the New Ulm Steel Sep. 29 in the earliest home opener in franchise history. For a schedule of upcoming promotions, click the “Game Day Fun” link at NorthIowaBulls.com.
LAST NIGHT’S RECAP: The Bulls officially have their first winning streak of the season after routing the Breezy Point North Stars last night by a 7-2 final, picking up their 28th win in 29 tries all-time against the North Stars. The Bulls scored six straight goals to get the scoring started, beginning with Matt Dahlseide’s 4-on-4 tally with just over a minute remaining in the first period. Cam Fagerlee had the highlight night for North Iowa, racking up a pair of goals to go with a pair of assists, and defenseman Harrison Stewart made a solid first impression in his Bulls debut, with two assists. Evan Babekuhl gave up a couple of goals in the third period to spoil the shutout, but stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced to pick up the win in his first appearance in a Bulls uniform.
AT LONG LAST: It took seven years, but at long last, the North Iowa Bulls earned their first season sweep of the Steel last season, playing four games against each other over the course of the year. The Bulls finished it off last season in a 5-1 victory at New Ulm on the NHL rink at the Civic Center, in a game that also all but put away Granite City’s West Division championship. New Ulm has never approached a win in the season series against North Iowa, but had always picked up a win or two to spoil the effort for a shutout. This is the first of six games between the teams this year.
CHANGE OF SCENERY: The top goaltender for New Ulm this year is a player who is no stranger to the NA3HL, and certainly no stranger to the North Iowa Bulls. Henry Baribeau is on the Steel roster this season after leading the Wausau RiverWolves to the Fraser Cup playoffs in their inaugural season. Baribeau was responsible for eight of the RiverWolves’ 11 wins last season and posted an .899 save percentage, and he did it against a defense that was often overmatched – the RiverWolves gave up more than 45 shots a night with Baribeau guarding the net.
MEDIA NOTES: