The Minot Minotauros' inaugural season couldn't have been much worse.
It came with a 19-game losing streak, no consecutive wins and a mid-season coaching change.
Chance Creger's overtime slapshot Friday got past Coulee Region goalkeeper Blake Cates' reach. The goal, Creger's second of the game and season, gave this year's Tauros a 4-3 win and established team history.
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Ryan Collingwood/MDN
The Minotauros celebrate their first goal of the game against Coulee Region at Maysa Arena on Friday. The Tauros beat the Chill in overtime 4-3.
The victory is a team-record third straight and, barely a third of the way into the season, Minot (8-12-1) has set a new mark for wins in a season.
"Everything just kind of came together tonight," Creger said. "Nothing special, (we) just started shooting a little bit more, had a little bit more confidence with the shot."
The Chill (5-11-5) scored the first two goals of the game in a span of just over two minutes in the second period. Tauros coach Marty Murray said his team didn't really come to play until a little over halfway through the contest.
"I thought we played real poor for probably about 33 minutes there at the start of the game," said Murray, who took the team over after Ben Johnson was fired last season. "We just didn't seem like we were interested in competing and then we decided to play and did some good things. ... It's probably a game we're lucky to come out (with)."
Cody Milligan scored a power-play goal 15 minutes, 54 seconds into the second period. Creger's first goal, assisted by Jadin Martin and Paul Sorenson, came with 1:31 left in the frame.
Sean Lang gave the Chill the lead again with a power-play score in the third. But Steven Sherman found the back of the net to knot it up one last time.
The win is the second straight after regulation. The Tauros beat Bismarck 5-4 in a shootout on Thursday.
"We just figure out how to win," Sherman said. "Got a couple under our belt. At the beginning, it was a struggle. But you get a couple under you belt, you start feeling good and everyone jumps on board."
Minot hosts Coulee Region again at 8 p.m.