WATERTOWN, S.D. — The Watertown Shamrocks dropped back-to-back games against the St. Cloud Norsemen in a home-and-home weekend series.
Watertown fell 3-2 in a shootout Friday in St. Cloud. After a scoreless first period, Edvin Berzins put the Shamrocks on the board at 17:02 of the second. Samuel Misak tied the game for the Norsemen at 16:44, but Zach Boren reclaimed the lead for Watertown less than a minute later. St. Cloud’s Sam Crane tied the game 2-2 on a power-play goal at 8:49. After a scoreless overtime, the game moved to a shootout. Owen Chartier scored for Watertown, but goals by Dante Rodriguez and Riley Fast secured the 3-2 victory for St. Cloud.
On Saturday, a four-goal third period lifted St. Cloud over Watertown 7-3 before 1,474 fans at Prairie Lakes Ice Arena. Vincent Curasi opened the scoring for Watertown at 13:30, but back-to-back goals within 46 seconds by Gabe Gallivan and Wyatt Farrell gave the Norsemen a 2-1 lead heading into the second. Farrell added his second goal at 7:37 of the second, though Watertown’s Jakov Matijevic narrowed the gap to 3-2 just 55 seconds later.
St. Cloud pulled away in the third as Sam Crane scored power-play goals at 11:50 and 11:28. Avry Shaw added another power-play tally at 9:27 to make it 6-2. The Shamrocks’ Owen Fask scored at 2:49, but Luke Pazzia sealed the win for St. Cloud at 1:22.
Beck Liden earned the win with 21 saves on 24 shots. JJ Salajko took the loss, stopping 25 of 32 shots.
Watertown (17-14-0-1) remains fourth in the Central Division. The Shamrocks return home to face the North Iowa Bulls on Jan. 23 and 24.
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