Mike Kraft/MDN
Artem Prima leads the Minot Mintauros in scoring with 26 factors on eight objectives and 18 assists in 28 video games performed this season. Prima is one among three Minot skaters to play in all 28 video games.
The NAHL common season has nearly hit its halfpoint because the calendar will get able to flip over to 2026 and the playoffs are nonetheless one other 4 months into the space, however for the Minot Mintauros, the push to the postseason has already begun.
With one remaining sport on the schedule in 2025 – a rivalry tilt in Bismarck with the defending champion Bobcats on New Year’s Eve – the Tauros are 11-14-3 with 25 factors on the season, placing them in sixth place within the highly-competitive Central Division. Minot presently sits one level behind the Watertown Shamrocks and North Iowa Bulls for the fourth and ultimate playoff spot out of the division.
The Tauros have certified for the postseason in all however two years in franchise historical past – their inaugural season in 2011-12 and most not too long ago in 2021-22. To make sure the Tauros don’t miss the postseason for a 3rd time, head coach Cody Campbell mentioned the important thing can be consistency all through the second half of the 12 months.
“For us, our mentality is that our playoff push has started,” Campbell mentioned. “Right now, we’re not in a bad spot. We just need to take care of our business. In terms of what we need to fine tune, we just need to fine tune the consistency of our effort because there hasn’t been a game this year where I felt that we deserved to win and we didn’t win, so that tells you that we have the talent, we’re capable. It’s just about putting in the effort that’s required to win hockey games at this level every night.”
Like most groups within the NAHL, the Tauros have needed to navigate through an ever-changing roster, accidents and shedding key gamers to Tier I junior hockey leagues within the midst of the season. Minot has had simply three gamers gown for all 28 video games: Artem Prima, Ty James and Michael Solominsky. Fourteen gamers have skated in no less than 20 video games this season. In whole, the Tauros have used a mixture of 32 forwards and defensemen to date this 12 months.
Prima leads the crew in scoring with 26 factors on eight objectives and 18 assists. He has recorded eight multiple-point video games this season. James is the veteran of the group, being the one skater in his third season with the crew. The defenseman has factored into the scoring sport as of late and is presently second on the crew in scoring with 19 factors on 5 objectives and 14 assists. James has 9 factors since Nov. 22 and has recorded a degree in every of his final three video games.
“Ty James as a third-year veteran has been fantastic on the backend for us. He had a slower start, but has really started to play at a high level and started to be a guy that everybody else can look at each and every day to see what they are supposed to be doing and how they are supposed to be working.”
Lucca Ori (4 objectives, 13 assists) and Solominsky (7 objectives, 10 assists) are third on the crew in scoring. Philip Wiklund has added seven objectives and Dane Ramirez is tied with Prima for the crew lead in objectives with eight. Twenty-two skaters have registered no less than one purpose for Minot this season.
The scoring stability up and down the lineup helps fill the void left by a season-ending knee damage Mario Fate suffered on Nov. 8 towards St. Cloud. Fate was in his seventeenth sport and had gathered 14 factors on 4 objectives and 10 assists earlier than seeing his season finish. The Tauros additionally misplaced Brady Zugec after 17 video games, however not on account of damage however quite as the results of being referred to as as much as the Fargo Force of the USHL. Zugec has two assists in 10 video games with the Force.
Minot’s offense averages 3 objectives per sport. Its largest scoring output in a sport was seven, a feat it achieved twice. The Tauros closed out the NAHL Showcase with a 7-3 victory over Anchorage and hit seven objectives once more in a 7-3 win towards Aberdeen on Oct. 24. The Tauros have been shutout simply twice this season.
The protection has been a bit extra of a roller coaster. The Tauros permit 3.68 objectives per sport and went through a five-game stretch on the finish of November that noticed them yield 36 whole video games, together with 9 of their solely assembly with the Bobcats. The five-game shedding streak instantly adopted a four-game successful streak – their longest of the season.
“Defense is just effort and work and it’s not just the goalies, it’s not just the defensemen, it’s all six guys that are on the ice at a given time,” Campbell mentioned. “We went through a pretty horrible stretch when it came to that by everyone involved and came out the other side. Against St. Cloud on a weekend, we gave up one goal. Over the course of the last four games, I’ve been really happy with our 5-on-5 defense, pretty happy with our penalty kill. We just have to limit the number of times our kill as to go out there because it’s a taxing job and if you give a team enough opportunities with a man up, they’re normally going to find a way to squeak one by one way or another.”
Minot’s penalty killing unit has been busy this season, because the crew has gathered 519 penalty minutes whole, averaging 18.5 per sport. Their penalty kill ranks close to the underside of the NAHL at 73.04 p.c, placing them thirty second among the many 34 groups.
If the final six video games are any indication, the Tauros have turned it round defensively in December. Since permitting 36 objectives in 5 video games, the Tauros have solely surrendered 15 objectives, together with a shutout.
Devin Rustlie and Brian Cooke have break up goaltending duties for the Tauros. Rustlie only recently returned to the crew after two weeks within the USHL with Cedar Rapids. Rustlie is 4-5-2 with a 4.09 objectives towards common and .881 save proportion with one shutout. Cooke is 6-4-1 with a 3.26 objectives towards common and a .905 save proportion with one shutout. Cooke will start the post-holiday break with USHL’s Omaha Lancers for every week whereas one among their goaltenders competes within the World Junior Championships.
The Central Division has confirmed to be as difficult because it has in years prior. The Tauros have a shedding report towards 5 of the seven opponents together with a 0-3-1 mark towards Austin. Minot is 1-1 towards Minnesota and has had essentially the most success towards St. Cloud, successful all six conferences up to now.
The Bruins presently sit atop the standings with 41 factors, adopted intently behind by Bismarck with 39. Aberdeen is third with 35 factors and Watertown and North Iowa are tied for fourth with 26 factors, with Watertown presently holding the tiebreaker with extra general wins. Minot is a degree forward of St. Cloud and eight factors away from Minnesota.
“This division is so well-coached, they are such good organizations that anybody can beat anybody on a given night,” Campbell mentioned. “You’ve seen that throughout the course of the season. It’s such a tight division, it’s well-recruited, it’s well-coached, organizations all operate at a high level. There’s no just show-up-and-win games for anybody. Development wise, that makes it so much better for our players because they can’t take a night off because if they do it’s going to be pretty evident.”
The Tauros have 31 video games remaining of their push for the postseason, 16 of which can be within the pleasant confines of Maysa Arena. They are presently 5-6-1 at house. The second half of the schedule includes a six-game homestand from Feb. 20 through March 7 towards Watertown, North Iowa and Minnesota. They have 4 house matchups remaining towards Bismarck. The different 15 video games will happen on the street, the place they’re 5-6-2 up to now. A pivotal six-game street journey looms from Jan. 30 through Feb. 14, going up towards Watertown, Aberdeen and Minnesota.
For the Tauros, making or lacking the postseason will come right down to consistency, as they know they’ve the expertise required to win.
“We have some talented players who are still learning what’s required to win at this level,” Campbell mentioned. “There’s been stretches where we’ve done that pretty consistently and we’ve gotten the outcomes that we’ve wanted and then there’s been times we haven’t done those things consistently and we’ve got some negative outcomes. It’s been a learning experience for everybody and ultimately we’re not in a bad spot going into the second half with a team that’s only going to improve and learn how to win and close out hockey games and win in different situations.”