Mason City, IA- In front of a packed and lively crowd at the Mason City Arena, North Iowa Bulls forward and Assistant Captain Fuji Suzuki led the way to a stirring 6-4 victory over the Bismarck Bobcats.
Suzuki jumped off the blocks hot with a pair of goals in the first period, starting with a quick transition rush for the game’s opening score just 5:14 into the game. Near the frame’s middle point, the Tokyo, Japan, native punched in his second goal of the game while the Bulls were skating at 4on4. Just 16 seconds after, fellow Bulls Assistant Captain Denis Hodas potted a tally to put the Bulls up 3-0. Bismarck did answer with a rush goal from Dennis Lominac to send the game into the first intermission at 3-2.
Bismarck stayed hot to start the second period with Cam Alemond jumping on a turned over puck to whistle one home and cut the score to 3-2. The remainder of the period belonged to the Bulls. Fuji Suzuki potted a power play tally for the hat trick goal 4:14 into the middle stanza. Later in the frame, immediately following a Bulls’ successful penalty kill, Suzuki ripped a blue line to blue line pass for Denis Kuzmenkov who jumped from the bench for a breakaway and buried the chance to put the Bulls up 5-2 going into the second intermission.
The Bobcats remained stubborn in the third. They scored on a power play when Cam Alemond tipped in the second goal of his evening. Then with just 7:57 left to play, George Porier netted a scramble goal to cut the deficit down to 5-4. North Iowa sweated out the final minutes and landed the final blow when Denis Hodas set up Vitaliy Korolyuk for the exclamation mark goal to end the night at 6-4.
Suzuki’s hat trick gave him 29 goals, breaking the record for most goals by a North Iowa Bulls skater in a NAHL season previously held by current Ferris State University (NCAA DI) Carter Rapalje from the 2021-22 season.
Denis Hodas and Captain Brody Dietz each played in their 100th game in the NAHL. Hodas, who got 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points, has played his entire NAHL career in Mason City. Dietz arrived from Anchorage late last season and has rewritten the record books this year. The Hudson, WI, native notched 3 assists and tied the Bulls’ single season assists record by a skater in a NAHL season. He set the team’s record for single season NAHL assists by a defenseman the previous week against local rival Austin.
Fellow Bulls’ Captain Mike Malatino joined Dietz with a trio of assists in the game, two coming on Suzuki’s first two goals.
Goalkeeper Charlie Durkin earned his 7th win in just his 12th appearance this season with a 22 save outing.
North Iowa has a quick turnaround ahead, heading to Forest Lake on Tuesday to face the Minnesota Mallards.