ST. CLOUD — The Austin Bruins battled to stay in Friday's game for nearly 50 minutes, then used an 11-minute stretch late in the third period Friday night to rally for a 5-3 North American Hockey League victory against the St. Cloud Norsemen at the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex.
The victory keeps the Bruins (6-2-1 overall) in a first-place tie in the NAHL Central Division with the North Iowa Bulls.
The Bruins and Norsemen will become quite familiar with one another this season, as they are scheduled to play 11 more times in the regular season.
The first meeting of the dozen between the teams swung Austin's way in the final seven minutes.
St. Cloud's Blake Perbix had scored on a penalty shot with 8:06 to give his team a 3-2 lead. But the momentum flipped to the Bruins 91 seconds later when RPI commit Sutter Muzzatti -- who is second in the entire NAHL in assists, with 10 -- scored his first goal of the season to tie the score 3-3.
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Just 45 seconds later, another Bruin scored his first of the year, when Austin Salani scored with an assist from Alex Trombley and Jens Richards. Salani's goal held up as the game winner.
Bruins captain Carson Riddle added a short-handed, empty-net goal with 14 seconds to go to seal the victory. Hudson Hodges made 24 saves to improve to 5-1-1 this season, including stopping six shots in the third.
Richards had a big night for the Bruins, too. The second-year vet had the team's first two goals and one assist, and now has eight goals this season. Trombley also had a big hand in the win, with three assists, while Frank Dovorany had two. Therien Thiesing and Dylan Gajewski had one assist each.
The Bruins are now off until next weekend, when they host the Bismarck Bobcats on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. both nights.
