Bobcats edge Bruins in one of three NAHL games

Austin 3 @ Bismarck 4 (SO) - The Bismarck Bobcats persevered for their 27th win of 2011-12, battling through a late two-goal rally from the Austin Bruins to edge Austin 4-3 in the shootout Thursday at the VFW Sports Center.  It was the visiting Bruins who got on the board first with 6:08 left in the first period when second-year forward Charlie Adams collected a Jeremy Finger rebound and flicked it past Bobcat goalie Tommy Burke to post the Bruins to a 1-0 lead.  On the very next shift, Dan Zawacki took an entry feed from Adam Knochenmus, deked through two Bruin defenders and fired a pinballing shot that deflected past Austin goalie Tyler Bruggeman to tie the score 1-1.  The Bobcats surged ahead late in the second when Bryce Schmitt won a faceoff back to Donald Olivieri and proceeded to deflect Olivieri’s slapshot over Bruggeman’s glove and in for a 2-1 Bobcat edge.  Nick Miglio tacked on another goal in the 3rd period, beating Bruggeman low stick to push the score to 3-1 in favor of the Cats. Austin, however, would not be denied as C.J. Smith started the Bruins’ last-minute rally with a power play strike off a rebound in front of Burke to chop the lead to 3-2 with 3:56 left in regulation.  John Simonson brought the game to level 2:14 later, winning a faceoff in the Bobcats end out of a timeout right to himself and ripping a five-hole shot past Burke for a 3-3 deadlock.  Tommy Burke held firm through all seven Bruins shooters as the shootout entered sudden death in the sixth and seventh rounds, keeping Austin scoreless despite every Bruin shooter hitting the net with their chances.  The first six Bobcats shooters failed to solve Bruggeman—though rookie Ryan Callahan rang the post after beating the third-year netminder to the stick side in the sixth round—but Knochenmus, who extended last Friday’s shootout in Aberdeen, had the answer.  As Knochenmus carried through the middle, Bruggeman read a deke from the Roseau, Minn., native and tried to challenge, but Knochenmus beat him to the punch and ripped a low liner over the netminder’s outstretched arm to deliver the Cats the 4-3 victory.  Burke totaled 27 saves in all in the win while Bruggeman suffered the tough-luck loss, just his third after regulation, despite an impressive 42 saves. Boxscore

Corpus Christi 6 @ Texas 1 – Beau Walker had two goals and two assists and Anthony Stolarz stopped 29 of 30 shots as the IceRays handled the Tornado in Frisco, 6-1.  Joe Ginley and AJ Jarosz each had two goals for the IceRays, who scored six goals on 34 shots.  Frank Misuraca and Michael Dery also had multi-point games for Corpus Christi while Taylor Herndon scored the lone goal for Texas. Boxscore

Alexandria 5 @ Minot 3 – Hayden Trupp had a goal and three assists and Nick D’Avolio had a goal and two assists as Alexandria stayed in 2nd place in the Central Division with a 5-3 win in Minot on Thursday.  The Blizzard went 2 for 6 on the power play and Jacob Meyers made 31 saves for his 16th win of the season.  Jadin Martin scored twice in the loss for the Minotauros. Boxscore