It all seemed fitting as the Minot Minotauros could have used the term in all of its many meanings during a weekend rebrand as part of a Trunk-or-Treat-inspired fan vote, where they became the Minot Uff Das and sported special sweaters to be auctioned at the end of their series with Central-Division-leading Aberdeen at Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena. The Tauros returned home for the first time in over a month and equaled a season-high in goals during a 7-3 victory on Friday, Oct. 24, to snap a five-game losing streak. Minot couldn’t replicate that same success the following night, falling 5-1 to the Wings to settle for a weekend split.

“There were a ton of positives to take away from both games, especially with how many guys we have hurt right now,” Minot coach Tyler Ebner said. “That’s not always an excuse you can make, but playing with nine and 10 forwards both nights is tough. I thought we did a good job Friday night of finishing when we had opportunities. Tonight, their goalie played really well and saved a ton of great As we had to put in the back of the net.”

Playing in front of the home crowd for the first time since their season-opening series against North Iowa back on Sept. 19-20 that saw them play nine straight games on the road since, the Tauros gave the fans plenty to cheer about early on Friday, netting the contest’s first two goals in the opening eight minutes of the first period. Michael Solominsky potted the first one following an Aberdeen turnover in its own end. The Tauros took control of the puck and Solominsky ripped a shot from above the faceoff circle past starting goaltender Adam Dybal over his stick-side shoulder.

The Tauros (3-7-3 W-L-OT/SOL) added their first of three power-play goals on the night to build a 2-0 lead. Brady Zugec swatted a puck out of the air in front of the net off a shot from the blue line from Solominsky at 7:34 of the opening frame.

Mike Kraft/MDN Aberdeen goaltender Willum Braun makes the initial save on Tauros forward Brady Zugec (25) as Philip Wiklund (22) skates toward the loose puck during the third period on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Pepsi Rink at Maysa Arena.

The Wings (10-3-0) would cut the lead in half with 20 seconds remaining in the period, but the Tauros would strike for two more in the middle stanza on goals from Daniil Afonin and a power-play goal from Zugec for his second of the night.

That was the end of Dybal’s night in net for the Wings, and backup Willum Braun kept Minot off the board for nearly 25 minutes of gametime, allowing Aberdeen to claw back into the game, trailing 4-1 at that point. The Wings scored a pair of unanswered goals to start the third, getting its lone power-play goal of the weekend 49 seconds into the third by Sam Scheetz and an even-strength goal midway through the stanza by Caden Lee to trim Minot’s lead down to 4-3.

Minot’s Dane Ramirez slammed the door on any comeback aspirations the Wings had, netting his second and third goals of the season late in the period and Dominic Pajkic tacked on another for good measure.

“For them, coming home and playing in front of their crowd, they had a little juice,” Aberdeen coach Scott Langer said. “This is a tough environment. They do a really good job here. For us to take some points here is good.”

Devin Rustlie picked up the win in net for the Tauros, finishing with 44 saves.

While Friday’s game had the Tauros and fans saying Uff da in the sense of astonishment for scoring a season-high seven goals or relief of holding on to the lead late, Saturday’s game had them uttering the term moreso in the sense of dismay or irritation.

“It was energy,” Ebner said. “The guys had a ton of energy and jump going into the game Friday and they carried that into the whole 60 minutes. We had spurts tonight where we had energy, but we have to bring it more consistently.”

The Tauros couldn’t solve Braun, couldn’t recapture the success they had on the power play and couldn’t keep Aberdeen’s offense out of their defensive zone. Minot surrendered 34 shots on goal through two periods and 43 for the game. They allowed 90 over the course of the weekend, something that has been a trend all season. The Tauros allowed 77 shots on goal in an overtime loss to Austin last weekend. Minot goaltenders have faced 370 shots through 11 games.

“We have to get better in the D-zone and our guys know that,” Ebner said. “We’re going to continue to work on that over the course of the week and continue to get better at it week to week. We can’t give up that many shots every night. It’s not a recipe for success.”

Five of Aberdeen’s shots found the back of the net, as the Wings never trailed Saturday after never leading on Friday. Easton Edwards, Matthew Martin and Jonathan Doucette gave the Wings a 3-0 lead past the halfway point of the game before Minot would finally get one by Braun. Mario Fate netted Minot’s lone goal of the contest with 2:21 remaining in the second period.

“If you look at everything from last night, we didn’t really play a bad game, they were just pretty opportunistic on their shots and they scored, but for the most part we did some really nice things,” Langer said. “I thought we took it into today and our guys were hungry and we put our effort forth and we knew we had to come away with points.”

Martin added a power-play goal for his second tally of the night in the third period and Lee scored on the empty net to salvage the weekend split.

The Wings finished a combined 1-for-13 on the power play, and while it was a good weekend for Minot’s penalty kill, Ebner would rather not spend so much time in the box moving forward, as it only leads to a more lopsided shot total.

“We have to improve D-zone,” Ebner said. “We can’t give up 35, 36-plus shots a night and expect to win on a consistent basis, so we have to do a better job of closing and not allowing them as much time and space as we have been. And at the end of the day we have to stay out of the box. Way too many penalties this weekend and that’s something we have to get better at and learn from.”

Brian Cooke got the start in net for the Tauros and finished with 37 saves. Braun added 31 saves and finished the weekend with 41. He also picked up an assist on Martin’s power-play goal on Saturday.

The Tauros head back on the road this weekend for a two-game series at St. Cloud beginning on Friday, Oct. 31. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.