Bulls to defend National Championship on Monday

April 6, 2014

The North Iowa Bulls are one game away from repeating as National Champions as they cruised to a Semi-Final win over the Northern Cyclones on Sunday to advance to the National Championship Game on Monday at 5pm (eastern).

 

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North Iowa Bulls 5 vs. Northern Cyclones 1 – The NA3HL’s North Iowa Bulls kept things going as they improved their Nationals record to a perfect 4-0 with a 5-1 win in the National Semi-Finals over the Northern Cyclones. The win sets the Bulls up in the position to defend their National Championship, which will take place on Monday at 5pm (eastern) against the Boston Jr. Bruins.

 

The Bulls struck first on a nice give-and-go from Matt Kroska to Rihard Marenis from behind the net and Marenis buried a shot past Cyclones goalie Drew Weigman for a 1-0 lead. For Marenis it was his tournament-leading 7th goal. The Cyclones tied things late on a goal from Connor Callow, but it would be the only goal that North Iowa goalie Chris Amsden would allow on 46 shots. Amsden has allowed just two goals on 104 shots.

 

The Bulls put the game out of reach in the 2nd period as they scored early and often. Marenis made a nice pass to Tim Santopoalo to spring the forward on a breakaway, where he beat Weigman to the glove side. Two minutes later, the score increased to 3-1 as Conor Jonasson set up Brandon Anderson with a nice centering pass from the corner and Anderson put home the close one-timer for a two-goal lead. Wesley Iverson made the score 4-1 as he streak in on a 3 on 1 from the right side and fired a shot over Weigman’s glove.

 

Just :12 seconds into the 3rd period Dominik Florian made the score 5-1 as he was the beneficiary of a nice pass from behind the net by Matt Kroska and deposited the one-timer home from the low slot for complete the Bulls scoring.