Austin Bruins down Minnesota Wilderness 4-1 Wednesday evening

The Austin Bruins played host to the Minnesota Wilderness Wednesday night at Riverside Arena, and four different Bruins lit the lamp in a 4-1 victory.

It was the fifth time the Bruins and Wilderness squared off this season, the first since November at Riverside Arena. Early in the first period, the Bruins found themselves on an extended power-play when Ben Oakland was called for checking from behind earning a five-minute major and a 20-minute misconduct. Austin managed to kill off the penalty without surrendering a goal, and both teams left the ice after twenty minutes in a scoreless tie.

In the second period, the scoring broke open for Austin while on the power-play. Just over five minutes into the period Barrett Brooks scored his team-leading eighth goal to give the Bruins the 1-0 lead. The primary assist was given to John Lundy who set-up the play skating behind the net before dropping a pass near the left post for Brooks to slam home. It only took 36 seconds before the Bruins scored their second of the game, this time it was Carson Riddle ringing up his third goal of the season. Alex Trombley raced after the puck in the offensive zone and won the battle, slinging a pass to the slot after avoiding a hit, and finding Riddle in the slot who rifled it home to the top corner and over the shoulder of Minnesota goalie Jacob Zacharewicz.

The Bruins increased their lead to 3-0 in the third period on the power play when Max Ruoho sailed a shot in on goal which Peter Jacobs expertly redirected for his sixth goal of the season and the Bruins 3-0 lead. Just for good measure, Garrett Dahm got in on the action 47 seconds later with a laser of a shot that improved the Bruins advantage to 4-0. It was the second time in the game that the Bruins scored goals in less than a minute.

With time winding down in the third, it looked like the Bruins were on their way to a shutout, but with only 17 seconds remaining a shot from Wilderness forward Ethan Wolthers ricocheted off Bruins defenseman Frank Dovorany and fooled netminder Tyler Shea to crack the goose egg and give Minnesota their first goal of the game. The final seconds would tick-off without any more tallies Austin took the commanding victory over their Central Division rivals the Wilderness.

Following the win, the Bruins improved to 7-10-2-2 on the season while the Wilderness fell to 6-7-1-1 on the year. Tyler Shea made 21 saves on 22 shots in the game to earn his sixth win of the season while Wilderness goalie Jacob Zacharewicz shouldered the loss after stopping 34 of 38 Bruins chances.

Up next for Austin, they welcome the league-leading Aberdeen Wings to Riverside Arena on Friday and Saturday, February 12 and 13.