Layne Sedevie and #27, Garrett Roth, have to be pleasantly surprised after taking down Bliss Littler and the Wild and to do it to the #2 team in the nation. We’re not talking about a pansy group of hockey players. We are talking about a team led by the winningest coach in all of hockey, Bliss Littler’s Wenatchee Wild. To do it to Travis Winter twice in one weekend, once in regular time and the other in a shoot-out, I think you are definitely liable to compare Bismarck to the former Billings Bulls, who ironically enough your head coach and GM Layne Sedevie played for. He also played for Bliss Littler, who he took down the prior weekend. I can’t ever remember a Bismarck team looking so good this early in the season. Aaron Nelson’s play in the net speaks volumes. Nelson wears the “C” with pride. He might let in a goal here or there, but the Bobcats have a chance to surpass the start that the Bruins got off to last year. Another thing that comes to mind is historically the Bobcats have been struggling out of the gate in the past. This team obviously gets it. I know I’ve said this before, but you might as well call Coach Sedevie “Layne Littler,” because of the way his team just goes to work every night. They have a Billings Bulls like mentality. Aaron Nelson, what can you say about the kid? He is not #15 in the NAHL, despite what the stats say on the NAHL website. The Bobcats handed the alleged #1 goalie two losses. You could definitely be looking at something vey special and we are not even half way through the first month of the season. This is a hungry Bobcats team, who carries the team logo with pride. We are talking about two consecutive sweeps. Numbers don’t mean a thing right now, but yes ladies and gentlemen, this is a 6-2 team. They are 6-2 for a reason, because of the attitudes that Coach Sedevie instills in them and their willingness to get better. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bobcats pull off 3 or 4 sweeps in a row. They have the mentality to learn and get better. The credit goes to “Layne Littler,” Garrett Roth, and the kids and their willingness to get better. This team is capable of taking down some big wins as the season rolls on. The team has the ability to play through adversity and have the hearts of champions. I think this 6-2 record speaks volumes about Layne and Garrett and their ability to put together a special team. Usually you would expect Aberdeen to get one of those games, especially at home in the Thunder Dome. Saturday night did not start out the right way for the ‘Cats, but they just kept coming and coming with their level of intensity. Aaron Nelson and the rest of the coaching staff deserve to be this writer’s #1 story. They are facing a Brookings team that is coming off of a 12 to 1 loss at the hands of Chris Tok and they don’t have a very good record right now, 0-7. That doesn’t mean the Bobcats can just take a night off, because Brookings is absolutely much better than 0-7. If I was Coach Layne, I would practice really hard this week and I wouldn’t give the kids any days off. Brookings could jump up and bite you at any time. Here is your scoring recap from Friday and Saturday. First, Friday in Aberdeen. We have another goal from your co-captain from Warsaw, Poland, Filip Starzynski, at 11:28 in the first period. The Bobcats weren’t done there. In the second, another one of Layne’s special rookies, Joonas Huovinen at 11:31. That goal was followed by a man who was on the NHL prospect list, until a very serious injury last year, Ryan Callahan, at 15:07. The final Bobcat goal in the third period was driven home by “Stan the Man” Stanislav Dzakhov at 7:12. Friday’s final score was Bismarck 4, Aberdeen 3. That gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the Titan Machinery Dakota Cup. Saturday, the Bobcats would have to work for their second consecutive sweep and would get it in a shootout. Aberdeen would score early in Saturday’s game, but the Bobcats would answer in the second period with a goal by Felip Starzynski at 4:31. Stanislav Dzakhov scored a critical goal in the shootout that would set-up a fatal blow off the stick of Joonas Huovinen that would give the Bobcats their second consecutive sweep in a row. That gave the Bobcats their best start that I can remember in a very very long time.
