Austin Bruins win Paint the Rink Pink game 5-1 over Aberdeen Saturday evening

The Austin Bruins played their annual “Paint the Rink Pink” game Saturday evening versus the Aberdeen Wings, with proceeds from the game, including auctioning off the special game jerseys for the contest after the game going toward cancer research at the Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota in Austin.  The Bruins were looking to bounce back in front of a capacity crowd from a 6-2 setback at the hands of the Wings Friday night, and bounce back they did as they downed the Wings 5-1.

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead when Ashton Bynum scored his first goal of the season, a power play tally with only :23 seconds left in the first period, with assists to Jackson Rilei, his second, and to Damon Furseth, his 16th.  Austin took a 2-0 lead only :39 seconds into the second period when Dylan Cook notched his 11th goal of the season, with assists to Ocean Wallace, his 10th, and also to Giuseppe Fiorillo, his fourth, and after Aberdeens’ Luke Backel scored at 2:11 of the period to cut the Bruins’s lead to 2-1, Jackson Luther scored his third goal of the sesaon at 6:14 to restore a two-goal lead at 3-1, with assists to Jackson Rilei, his second of the game and third of the season, and to Alex Laurenza, his 22nd.  The Bruins increased their lead to 4-1 when Damon Furseth tallied on the power play for his fifth goal of the year, with assists to Trip Pendy, his first, and to goaltender Trent Wiemken, his third, and an empty-net, shorthanded goal for Austin Salani, his 21st of the season with :12 seconds left in the game, with an assist to Connor Brust, his 14th, gave the Bruins a 5-1 win.

Aberdeen outshot Austin 31-30 for the game, and Bruins netminder Trent Wiemken turned away 30 of the 31 shots he faced to earn the win between the pipes, while Aberdeen’s Adam Dybal played the first 37:25 and made 17 saves in facing 21 shots, and Croix Kochendorfer played the last 19:49 for the Wings and turned away all eight shots he faced.  It was a penalty-filled affair on the pink ice Saturday night, with Austin whistled for 12 penalties for 61 minutes, while Aberdeen was called for five penalties for 26 minutes, and the Bruins were 2 for 2 on the power play, while the Wings were 0 for 8.

With the win, the Bruins are now 20-18-1-1-1 for 42 points and fifth place in the Central Division, five points behind fourth-place St. Cloud for the final playoff spot in the division.  The two teams will square off in a crucial home-and-home series Friday and Saturday, with face-off Friday night from the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud at 7 p.m., and face-off at Riverside Arena Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.  You’ll hear the Saturday evening game on AM 1480 KAUS, with pre-game at 7:00 p.m.