January 29, 2021 – 7:30 p.m.
Mason City Multipurpose Arena – Mason City, Iowa
NEW ULM STEEL (3-11-2-0)
@ NORTH IOWA BULLS (14-4-0-0)
ROSTER: NORTH IOWA // NEW ULM
STATISTICS: NORTH IOWA // NEW ULM
ATTENDING THE GAME: MAP TO ARENA // PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE // SEATING CHART
COVERAGE: HockeyTV (video/$), Mixlr (audio/free)
LIVE STATS: CLICK HERE
BULLS vs. NEW ULM ALL-TIME: 52-11-4
TONIGHT’S PROMOTIONS: North Iowa welcomes the area’s college students for its “Room and Boarding” promotion – all students with a valid college ID will be admitted for just $6 and craft draws are just $3. For a schedule of upcoming promotions, click here.
STEELY RESOLVE: New Ulm may be the most dangerous three-win team in hockey right now, after knocking off the Granite City Lumberjacks 3-2 in a matinee in Sauk Rapids on Wednesday. The Lumberjacks came into the day with the division’s best winning percentage, but New Ulm grabbed the lead on three separate occasions during the contest. The latter of those two came on one of two Steel power play goals, just 52 seconds into the second period. The other power play goal was Hutson Collins’s eventual game-winner with 6:09 to play. Granite City out-shot their visitors 42-31 over the contest, including a 35-22 lead in the shot count heading into the third.
TOUGH TO TAME: North Iowa’s opponent in this contest is the last team to beat them on home ice, 12 months ago – Keegan Bauman buried a hat trick in the Steel’s 5-3 win, after the Bulls charged back from a 3-0 deficit just past the five-minute mark of the second period. Since then, North Iowa has won 15 straight home games, the Bulls’ longest such streak at home since 2018 – that run straddled the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, with North Iowa rattling off six straight wins to close the former season and earning nine straight wins to open the latter season at home. Only a 6-3 loss to the Rochester Grizzlies on Thanksgiving weekend, the first-ever home meeting between the teams, snapped the Bulls’ previous 15-game home winning streak.
FULL POWER: Late power plays caught North Iowa in last Saturday’s game against Willmar, but the Bulls are still working on getting their penalty kill revved up in the midst of its slow start in 2021 – the Bulls have killed off 15 of 21 opposing power plays since the start of the new year, for a success rate a little over 71 percent. In three straight games, opposing teams have notched multiple goals on the man-advantage against North Iowa.
WHO’S HOT: After his two-goal night against Shattuck-St. Mary’s on Wednesday, Carson Jones will look for another big night against the Steel after his two-goal, three-point outing against New Ulm in their last meeting November 21. Corey Stormer scored twice for the Steel the previous night in a 7-2 loss.
MEDIA NOTES (click the arrow to expand):