WATERTOWN, S.D. — The Watertown Shamrocks split their home-opening weekend series against the Bismarck Bobcats, earning a 2-0 shutout victory Friday before dropping a 5-2 decision Saturday.
Mason Gudridge led the way Friday, turning aside all 27 shots he faced to record the shutout. Following two scoreless periods, Owen Chartier broke the deadlock for Watertown at 18:04 of the third period. Andrew Smulkstys added an empty-net goal with 17 seconds remaining to seal the win.
The script flipped Saturday as Bismarck dominated the offensive play, outshooting Watertown 46-18.
Maksims Pumpins opened the scoring for the Shamrocks at 12:27 of the first period, but Bismarck answered back with consecutive goals from Jake Caffrey (6:54) and Teddy Richardson (1:32) to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
The Bobcats extended their lead in the second period with power-play goal from Isak Forslund at 15:14 and another tallly from Richardson at 8:25. Watertown narrowed the deficit to 4-2 on a Jordan Brothers goal at 6:29, but Richardson capped off a hat trick at 19:19 of the third period to put the game out of reach.
Watertown (4-3-2-0) returns to action next weekend with a home-and-away series against the Aberdeen Wings.
