December 12, 2020 – 7:30 p.m.
Mason City Multipurpose Arena – Mason City, Iowa
SHERIDAN HAWKS (12-1-0-0)
@ NORTH IOWA BULLS (11-3-0-0)
ROSTER: NORTH IOWA // SHERIDAN
STATISTICS: NORTH IOWA // SHERIDAN
ATTENDING THE GAME: MAP TO ARENA // SEATING CHART
COVERAGE: HockeyTV (video/$), Mixlr (audio/free)
LIVE STATS: None
BULLS vs. SHERIDAN ALL-TIME: No official meetings (Bulls won exhibition meeting Thursday, 7-3)
TONIGHT’S PROMOTIONS: North Iowa celebrates its annual Teddy Bear Toss night in what is likely to be its final evening home game of 2020. Christmas specials on North Iowa Bulls merchandise are also available throughout tonight’s game, and by appointment during regular business hours, at Brutus’s Locker Room Sponsored by Christie Door Company. For a schedule of upcoming promotions, click here.
MADE FROM SCRATCH: After two days of the Bulls Holiday Classic, the two teams are essentially hitting the reset button on the weekend – Sheridan’s 4-1 win on Friday afternoon thanks in part to a three-assist performance from Zach Carson put everybody at 1-1 heading into Saturday. The Hawks are wrapping up the weekend with this contest, while the Bulls finish the weekend on Sunday afternoon against St. Louis.
COME UP WITH AN ANSWER: These same two teams got together on Thursday night, with a major turn in the game at the first intermission. Zach Brydges banged in a rebound goal just 3:31 into the contest and Jonathon Teasdale batted in a back-post thread on the power play just four minutes later, putting Sheridan firmly in the driver’s seat after the initial 20 minutes. However, North Iowa ran off seven straight goals in the second and third periods, starting with a power-play marker from Caden Smith just 2:41 into the period. Within six minutes, the lead had disappeared, and just after the 12-minute mark of the second period, the lead reappeared on the North Iowa side of the scoreboard. The Bulls went 2-for-4 on the power play in that game, with Sheridan finishing 2-for-2.
DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?: Even without the points on the line, North Iowa has played some of the top talent in the NA3HL over the previous two weeks, but slow starts and unfortunate bounces have found their way into the storyline a few times since the Bulls’ last official league game on November 21. The Bulls have scored the opening goal in just one of their four exhibition games since Thanksgiving, and late penalties also put North Iowa behind the 8-ball against Rochester and St. Louis, opening the door for the eventual game-winning goal in both of those contests. However, North Iowa has also found itself on the right side of a few scoring bursts, taking control of their game against Carshield U18 with back-to-back second-period goals just 12 seconds apart, and Jack Campion’s power-play goal gave North Iowa the lead against the Grizzlies just 40 seconds before the second-period horn.
I THOUGHT YOU WERE NEW HERE: North Iowa’s newest players have been among their most impressive since the Thanksgiving break – Caden Smith has racked up two goals and an assist on the weekend already, with two assists so far for Carson Jones. Jones also had a late goal in the Bulls’ win over Carshield U18 last weekend.
MEDIA NOTES (click the arrow to expand):