Just when you thought the rivalry between the two combatants of the NAHL Central Division couldn’t get any hotter, tonight’s tilt is for all the marbles in the Subway North Dakota Cup.
We had a chance to visit with the voice of your Capital City Kitties on Wednesday morning at the VFW Sports Center, Paul Teeple, who said “The rivalry seems to have cooled off this year compared to past seasons”. He expects the game tonight to be more intense with what is on the line in the last installment of this year’s six regular season games between the Bobcats and Minotauros, as both teams are fighting for their playoff lives.
When it comes to the Maysa Arena in Minot, Teeple called it one of the premier rinks in the league. The fans used to be right on top of the ice, but now in the new arena it does not seem that way, which seems to lessen the intensity in the building.
The Bobcats lead the Minotauros for the final playoff spot by six points, but have played two more games than Minot. Bismarck sits three points behind the Minnesota Wilderness who are in third place. By the end of the night there could be a possible four point swing in the standings as the Bobcats could have an eight point lead over the team from the north and be one point out of third place, or their lead over Minot could be whittled down to four points also.
One of the key aspects that Teeple pointed out was that Bobcats penalty killing must have full focus and they can’t allow Minot to attack the net and get momentum in their favor. If the Bobcats allow Minot to control the pace of the game, they are going to be in trouble.
You can listen to all the hard hitting action tonight starting at 6:40 pm with the pregame show on super talk 1270 am KLXX. The puck will drop at 7:05 pm.
