WATERTOWN, S.D. – The Watertown Shamrocks earned a split against the North Iowa Bulls on Friday and Saturday nights in front of home fans at Prairie Lakes Ice Arena.
On Friday, a third-period offensive explosion lifted the Bulls past the Shamrocks 4-0. Both teams carried a scoreless tie into the final frame before North Iowa took over. Andrej Tomasec opened the scoring at the 1:54 mark of the third period. Fugi Suzuki added a short-handed goal with 6:10 remaining, followed by a Jack Holland goal at 16:56. Zachary Howard sealed the win with an empty-netter with 10 seconds remaining.
Sebastian Haborak’s late heroics on Saturday lifted Watertown past North Iowa 4-3 to secure the weekend split. Haborak opened the scoring at 3:00 of the first period, sparking a dominant start for the Shamrocks. Jordan Gudridge added another goal two and a half minutes later to make it 2-0, and Payton Struck extended the lead to 3-0 with just 26 seconds left in the opening period.
North Iowa mounted a comeback starting with a Fugi Suzuki power-play goal at 2:36 of the second. Denis Kuzmenkov and Michael Malatino each scored power-play goals at 1:30 and 6:36 of the third period, respectively, to tie the game at 3-3. However, Haborak’s second goal of the night at 14:12 of the third proved to be the game-winner.
Watertown (18-15-0-1) continues its January homestand this Friday and Saturday against the Minot Minotauros.
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