November 6, 2020 – 7:30 p.m.
Mason City Multipurpose Arena – Mason City, Iowa
WILLMAR WARHAWKS (2-7-0-0)
@ NORTH IOWA BULLS (7-2-0-0)
ROSTER: NORTH IOWA // WILLMAR
STATISTICS: NORTH IOWA // WILLMAR
ATTENDING THE GAME: MAP TO ARENA // PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE // SEATING CHART
COVERAGE: HockeyTV (video/$), Mixlr (audio/free)
LIVE STATS: CLICK HERE
BULLS vs. WILLMAR ALL-TIME: 18-0-1
TONIGHT’S PROMOTIONS: North Iowa celebrates its 10th Anniversary season with special jerseys, which will be auctioned off after Saturday’s game. Several notable players from past seasons will return for appearances, and a jersey from the team’s inaugural 2011-12 season will be raffled to one lucky fan. For a schedule of upcoming promotions, click here.
LAND OF THE RISING STAR: The Bulls are up to back-to-back-to-back West Division Star of the Week awards after a two-day outburst from forward Sota Isogai – the Japanese native buried three goals and added an assist in last week’s wins over Willmar to take the hardware this week, after Garrett Freeman and Brayden Uttech nabbed those awards each of the last two weeks. Two of those goals came in Friday’s win on the WarHawks’ home ice, with the second of those goals coming on a shorthanded goal in the final minute of the second period. He helped give the Bulls another spark with his early first-period goal in Saturday’s home win. With that surge, Isogai – the top scorer back from last year’s team – heads into the weekend with six goals and an assist for the season, a point shy of a point-per-game average.
BLUE LINE SPECIAL: North Iowa grabbed some additional hardware on Wednesday, with defenseman Cal Nauss picking up the NA3HL’s Defenseman of the Month award for his play in the month of October. It’s the first time that a monthly honor has gone home with a Bulls player since Shane Bernhardson was chosen as the league’s Defenseman of the Month, and Colin Cain was picked as the league’s Goaltender of the Month, for December of 2017. With three goals, Nauss has already matched his goal-scoring total from a season ago, and with 10 points for the year, he sits just one off the team lead entering November. This follows an outstanding rookie campaign in 2019-20, with 28 points and a spot in the league’s Top Prospects event in February.
BACK TO THE BEARS: North Iowa defenseman Caleb Huffman is back after a stint at the Kenai River Brown Bears’ preseason training camp, as their NAHL season officially kicks off this week. However, he and the Kenai River coaching staff have given each other a mutual commitment, with Huffman signing an NAHL tender with the Brown Bears upon returning to Mason City. He becomes not only the first Bulls player to sign a tender this season, but the earliest to ever do so in any season. The Fairbanks, Alaska product and former Meijer AAA standout was drafted by both North Iowa and Kenai River this past offseason, going in the 2nd and 10th rounds of the NA3HL and NAHL Drafts, respectively. He came to the Bulls with three years of NAPHL experience under his belt, playing a 15-and-under season with the Alaska Oilers, and notched a goal and two assists in his junior debut October 2 against Alexandria.
MEDIA NOTES (click the arrow to expand):