Submitted Photo Minotauros forwards Billy Batten (34), Jesse Juhola (10), and Jack O’Hanisain (7) take the ice for the opening faceoff on Saturday, October 5th, 2024, at Riverside Arena in Austin, Minnesota. Photo by Grace Sandy/Minotauros Hockey .

With four weekend series remaining on the regular season schedule, the Tauros will hit the road to Minnesota to take on the Austin Bruins in an all-important late-season series with playoff implications at stake in the Central Division.

Entering the weekend the Tauros and Bruins find themselves tied for second place in the division with 77 points each through 51 games played. This weekend will be the first half of two straight weekends between the Tauros and Bruins as they wrap up their season series.

The home stretch of the regular season for Minot includes matchups against Austin (twice), Aberdeen, and Bismarck. Austin, Abderdeen and Bismarck all find themselves in the playoff race as Austin and Bismarck have clinched playoff berths while Abderdeen sits tied with St. Cloud at 56 points.

An overtime win on Friday night against North Iowa last weekend clinched a Robertson Cup Playoff Berth for Minot securing a return to the playoffs for the reigning Central Cup champions.

The season series between the Tauros and Bruins sits deadlocked at 2-2 with both teams notching their respective two wins on the road. The last road trip to Riverside Arena took place back in early October for the Tauros and resulted in a combined nine goals scored for Minot as they outscored Austin 9-3 on the weekend.

En route to that weekend sweep, it was Jesse Juhola leading the team in scoring goals, with three of the nine goals coming off his stick.

Adam Mahler was the hero in the Friday night win over North Iowa this past weekend as he hammered home the overtime winner for his 13th goal of the season. The goal for Mahler also marked his 3rd game-winning goal as he leads Tauros’ defensemen all-time in points scored in a season with 41 this year.

Also heating up in the goal-scoring department this past weekend was Tauros’ forward Noah Gibbs. Gibbs was able to find the back of the net twice on Friday night, which was good for his second and third goals in a Tauros uniform since being acquired by Minot.

Last season the Tauros’ pursuit for the first-place seed entering the postseason was largely bolstered by a stellar month of March which saw them post a combined record of 8-1 through the nine games played that month. Additionally the Tauros posted an unblemished 5-0 record that March against eventual playoff teams.

The second half of March this year will once again provide an opportunity for Minot to gain critical ground on teams in the playoff race as first place remains in the balance. So far this month the Tauros hold a 4-1 record with all four of their remaining games coming against the Bruins.

This weekend will also feature four of the current playoff picture teams playing each other as Bismarck will travel to St. Cloud to play the Norsemen who are tied with Aberdeen in the race for the final playoff spot.

The Tauros are averaging 3.80 goals per game with 194 goals scored in 51 games played this season. Additionally, Minot has continued to hold teams under an average of two goals per game.

As for the Bruins, they were entering last weekend in third place in the division, but were able to gain ground on the Tauros in the standings thanks to a weekend sweep over the Wings with 11 combined goals scored in the two wins.

Alex Laurenza continues to lead the Bruins in points and goals scored as last weekend the forward broke the single-season record in Bruins franchise history for goals scored netting his 33rd & 34th goals of the season. Laurenza is also the leading Central Division point-getter with 74 points on the year through 50 games played.

Luc Malkhassian also left his mark on the weekend sweep over Aberdeen earning himself the NAHL’s Central Division Star of the Week on a weekend where he found the back of the net four times while also accounting for an assist.

The Bruins are coming off a weekend series in which they went 50% on the extra-man advantage, netting four goals on eight opportunities. The Bruins’ power-play unit ranks fourth among the Central Division converting at 19.71%.

The last time the Bruins squared off with the Tauros it was a weekend sweep in Minot in December as the Bruins held the Tauros to just two goals on the weekend.

Next weekend, the Tauros will return to Minot to take on the same Austin Bruins team on home ice at the Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena. Puck drop for those games is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.