Watertown, SD — With the team debuting their brand new black alternate uniforms, the Shamrocks split their home series against the Minot Minotauros over Halloween weekend.
Watertown dropped game one on Friday night 4-1 despite a bevy of quality scoring chances. Mason Gudridge provided 36 saves, but was bested by Lukas Hoglind who stopped 39 of the Shamrocks’ 40 shots on goal. Maksims Pumpins scored the only goal in the loss for Watertown.
Saturday night was a different story. Minot jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the second period. However, Watertown dialed up the pressure and finally broke through with Jordan Brothers’ team leading eight goal of the season to cut it to 2-1 late in the second period. Then, Kirill Borodulin squeaked a shot through the goaltender to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the intermission.
In the third period, Watertown continued to harass the Minot defensive zone. Pumpins again scored to give Watertown the lead. Justin Obrochta would follow with another goal to push it to a 4-2 Shamrocks advantage. In all, Watertown scored four goals in less than 12 minutes of game action to close out a 4-2 win and a weekend split against the division leading Minotauros.
The Shamrocks now hold a 6-6-2-0 record overall and are in fifth place in the NAHL’s Central Division.
Watertown will now prepare for a home-and-home series with the St. Cloud Norsemen this weekend. The Shamrocks will host the Norsemen on Friday night at 7:00 PM and will travel to St. Cloud on Saturday for a 6:30 PM start.