Dominic Casareto had already fanned on numerous scoring chances.
Alex Bruess falls down a lot.
But don’t think this duo is too clumsy for big plays.
The Bruess-to-Casareto connection clicked with 2:02 to play Tuesday, giving the Broncos a slump-erasing, 4-3 victory over Borderland rival Fort Frances in front of a packed Bronco Arena.
“I have a hard time staying on my feet,” Bruess joked about after the game. “I saw Dom back-door and I just shot the puck to him and it worked out.”
Bruess was on his derriere when he fired a pass to a cutting Casareto, who buried it past Muskies goalie Devin Stromness before crashing into the netminder.
“I didn’t even see it go in,” Casareto admitted.
Casareto and the Bronco fans erupted, and Fort Frances failed to answer down the stretch. Stromness was pulled with 1 minute to play, but Broncos goalie Glenn Walls, who finished with 28 saves, was good enough in the end. A scrum ensued between numerous players after the final horn sounded, but no penalties were issued (meaning no repercussions for the next game).
“It’s a great rivalry. We didn’t expect this many fans, but it’s good to see,” said Casareto, who also scored the game-winner in overtime last week against Dodge County.
“It was the most complete game of the year,” Broncos head coach Mike Bolstad said.
The Broncos held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period before their power play collapsed in a matter of seconds. They failed to score on a 5-on-3 for 48 seconds, and when Nick Jourdain came out of the penalty box all alone, a clearing pass came right to him. Walls stopped the initial shot on a breakaway, but Jourdain was able to put his rebound away. Twenty-five seconds later, Brendan Cawston scored his second of the game short-handed to give the Muskies the lead.
“I’ll take full responsibility for the power play,” Bolstad said, noting he plans to simplify things in that regard. “I told Bruce Sandbeck we’d have the best power play in the Iron Range, but we’re far from that.”
Michael Bounds answered with a power-play goal 29 seconds later to set up the Bruess-to-Casareto heroics (Bruess also assisted Bounds’ goal).
Muskies head coach Shawn Jourdain said his team played “lights out” in Duluth the previous week, but struggled Tuesday.
“We just didn’t do the things we talked about,” he said.
Especially on the game-winning goal. The Broncos were outnumbered in the zone when Bruess saucered the pass to Casareto, but it was a defensive lapse that occurred all too often for the Muskies on Tuesday night.
“It’s fun for our kids. They get all wound up,” Jourdain said. “If we could ever find a way to reel all that energy in and just play hockey, we’d be fine. But it was fun.”
Eric Lassila’s nifty backhand past Stromness, who had 30 saves, opened the scoring in the second period. Lucas DeBenedet followed with a goal just under a minute later to give the home team a 2-0 lead.
“Everyone’s pumped up, looking forward to the next game,” Bruess said.
“This is a character win,” Bolstad said. “Hopefully we can go from here.”
Game notes
• Twenty penalties were whistled. The Broncos were 1-for-8 with a man advantage and Fort Frances finished 1-for-6 (with the two short-handed goals). Coincidental minor penalties were called three times.
• This was the Broncos first win at home. They tied Little Falls on Dec. 4 and lost to Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl on Dec. 17.
• While Broncos fans tossed a few burbot on the ice after the first two goals, the Muskies fans tossed pizza boxes after their goals, among other things. Toward the end of the contest, each goal was greeted with some garbage on the ice, mainly 20 ounce bottles.
• The Broncos now own a 43-29-1 all-time advantage over Fort Frances.
I. Falls 4, Fort Frances 3
FF 0 1 2—3
IF 0 2 2—4
First period — No scoring.
Second period — IF, Eric Lassila (Michael Bounds, Joel Skirten), 4:52; IF, Lucas DeBenedet (Christian Kittelson, Brett Musich), 5:49; FF, Brendan Cawston (Nick Jourdain, Robbie Rea), PP, 14:01.
Third period — FF, Jourdain (Tarran Romyn), SH, 4:50; FF, Cawston (Colton Spicer), SH, 5:15; IF, Bounds (Michael Misner, Alex Bruess), PP, 5:44; IF, Dominic Casareto (Bruess), 14:58.
Goalies — FF, Devin Stromness, 30 saves; IF, Glenn Walls, 28 saves.
