Shamrocks Drop Pair of Overtime Decisions to Austin in Season Opener

WATERTOWN, S.D. — The Watertown Shamrocks dropped a pair of heartbreakers to open the North American Hockey League season, falling twice in overtime to the Austin Bruins on Friday and Saturday.

Austin secured a 3-2 victory in Friday’s opener before edging Watertown 5-4 in another overtime battle on Saturday.

After a scoreless opening frame in game one, Watertown struck first in the second period. Kirill Borodulin sparked the Shamrocks offense with back-to-back goals at 18:23 and 15:15 to build a 2-0 lead. Austin cut the deficit just before the intermission when Hudson Weber-Stewart scored with 2:19 remaining in the period.

Kyle Sorensen tied the game 2-2 for the Bruins at 4:09 of the third period, forcing extra time. Alley Mostafaie sealed the comeback for Austin, netting the game-winner 2:11 into overtime.

Austin outshot Watertown 45-32 in the contest. Grady Dimberio led the Shamrocks attack with five shots, while Owen Chartier and Borodulin added four apiece. Watertown goaltender Mason Gudridge turned aside 42 of 45 shots in a busy night between the pipes.

Saturday’s rematch featured a high-scoring opening frame. Watertown jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind first-period goals from Jordan Brothers (16:27), Borodulin (13:54), and a power-play tally from Chartier (11:11).

Austin responded with three unanswered goals of its own. Logan Lambrecht (9:13), Hugo Thulin (7:22), and Sorensen (3:38) scored in rapid succession to knot the game 3-3 heading into the first intermission.

Weber-Stewart gave the Bruins their first lead of the night at 2:11 of the second period, making it 4-3. Watertown answered late in the third period when Brothers netted his second goal of the night on a power play at 15:22 to force overtime once again.

Andrew Leung scored the decisive goal for Austin at 2:45 of the extra period to complete the weekend sweep.

Watertown controlled the shot selection in the second contest, outshooting Austin 38-33. Brothers registered a team-high seven shots, while Borodulin added six.

Luke Courtney started in net for Watertown, stopping 26 of 29 shots in 49:37 of action. Gudridge played 12:38 in relief, stopping two of four shots.

The Shamrocks travel to the NAHL Showcase this week for three non-divisional matchups. Watertown faces the Wisconsin Windigo on Sept. 23, the Philadelphia Rebels on Sept. 25, and the Corpus Christi IceRays on Sept. 26.