Mason City, IA- The North Iowa Bulls snapped their nine game losing skid with a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Aberdeen Wings on Saturday night at the Mason City Arena.
Neither team potted a goal in the opening stanza, as Connor Graham and Croix Kochendorfer recorded strong periods, stopping 11 and 5 shots on their respective nets.
The pace changed in the second period when North Iowa capitalized on two Wings penalties. Bennet Koupal and Zach Reim took minor penalties for tripping and holding 32 seconds apart. On the ensuing five-on-three power play chance, Max LeDuc punched home his first goal as a Bull to put North Iowa ahead 1-0. On the leftover five-on-four, Simone Dadie knocked in his second goal of the weekend to give the Bulls a 2-0 lead they carried into the intermission.
The momentum kept up for the Bulls in the third period when Justin Mexico wired home a goal on the rush for his fifth of the season and a 3-0 lead.
Aberdeen refused to go away quietly. Nick Comfort punched home a rebound after an excellent save by Connor Graham to get the Wings on the board with 9:27 left in regulation. Two minutes and 59 seconds later, Leonid Bulgakov cut the deficit down to one. That was as close as Aberdeen got. Even with a power play chance in the dying minutes, Connor Graham put the finishing touches on a 34 save performance and the Bulls snapped their winning streak.
Justin Mexico recorded three points on the night, getting assists on both LeDuc and Dadie’s goals. Jack Severson notched two assists on the evening as well.
The Bulls improve to 2-9 on the season and look to build on the win next week when the St. Cloud Norsemen come to town for a Home-and-Home series. Friday night sees the puck drop at the Mason City Arena at 7:10 PM.
Tickets are available by clicking the link here.