Sean Williams/MDN Colby Joseph (74) and Justin Dauphinais (13) of the Minot Minotauros on the ice during a stoppage of play against the Austin Bruins on Friday night.

It’s now or never for the Minot Minotauros, as the team entered Friday night with their backs against the wall in the Robertson Cup Playoffs. After beginning the best-of-five series with two games in Austin, Minn. the Minotauros made their way back to the Magic City, where they hosted the Austin Bruins for game three of the Central Division Semifinals.

After dropping the first two games of the series, the Minotauros are now faced with the task of winning three games in a row if they want to extend their season. If they lose one more time, their season will come to an end. Fortunately, the team got a chance to play in front of their home fans, and the Maysa Arena was rocking on Friday night as playoff hockey made its way back to the Magic City.

Unfortunately, the Minotauros saw their season come to an end, as the Bruins advanced in the Robertson Cup Playoffs and were once again guided by special teams in a 3-0 win on Friday night.

Just like the first two games of the series, the Minotauros had a few early chances on the power play but were unable to cash in. Fortunately, the Bruins did as well in the first period and were held scoreless moving into the second period.

The Bruins, however, wouldn’t be held scoreless for long as they capitalized on the man advantage in a big way in period two. Continuing to do a ton of damage on the power play in the series, the Bruins scored two power-play goals from Austin Salani within 12 seconds of each other to take a 2-0 lead in period two.

With one period to go, the Bruins held a 2-0 lead over the Minotauros, and a once rowdy Maysa Arena was beginning to get a little quieter with the team trailing late. Starting goaltender Noah Rupprecht kept the game within reach, the Minotauros just needed to get something going quickly.

Despite trailing 2-0, the contest was close across the board heading into the third period. Minot was outshooting the Bruins 18-14 and both teams had six minutes of a man advantage. Even though Minot was held scoreless on the power play, they had a few good looks and needed to keep searching for more in the final frame.

After coming up empty on two more power play opportunities, the Minotauros tried to pull out all the cards down the stretch. Rupprecht was pulled with under two minutes to play and head coach Cody Campbell called a timeout with 1:59 left, but an empty-net goal from Salani and his hat trick cancelled the Minotauros hopes, as their season came to an end on a 3-0 loss.

Throughout the series, the Minotauros were haunted by their inability to capitalize on the power play. They ended the series going 3-for-19 on the man advantage.

Even though their playoff run ended quickly, the Minotauros have a lot of accomplishments to be proud of that occurred during the year, including multiple new franchise records and multiple collegiate commitments.