The Minot Minotauros hope they have solved some of the defensive issues they endured at the end of November, as the month of December has been more of what the team has been looking for in the defensive zone.

The Tauros allowed just one goal over the weekend in a sweep of St. Cloud at Maysa Arena. Minot opened the series with a 1-0 victory in overtime for its first shutout victory since Halloween night, which also came against the Norsemen. The Tauros followed that performance with a 5-1 victory on Saturday, Dec. 13, fueled by a hat trick from Philip Wiklund.

Evan Foiles played the role of the hero on Friday, netting the overtime-winner at 1:30 of the extra session. Foiles possessed the puck the length of the ice before ripping a shot from the far faceoff dot past St. Cloud goaltender Beck Liden.

Brian Cooke stopped all 23 shots he faced to earn the shutout victory.

Tauros fans didn’t have to wait long on Saturday to celebrate a goal and toss their teddy bears on the ice as part of the annual Teddy Bear Toss as Wiklund lit the lamp for his first of three on the night just 3:53 into the opening period while on the power play.

Wiklund added his second midway through the first and Ivan Sidorov gave the Tauros a 3-0 lead headed into the intermission.

Minot (10-13-3) scored three goals with the man advantage, the final two both coming in the third period. Ty James scored at the tailend of a holding penalty by St. Cloud’s Wyatt Farrell and Wiklund had fans throwing hats onto the ice midway through the third with Cole Bies serving an unsportsmanlike penalty for the Norsemen (9-13-4).

Wiklund has seven goals this season.

Cooke picked up his second win in as many nights with a 24-save performance.

The Tauros have won three of their last four.

The Tauros travel to North Iowa for a weekend series with the Bulls beginning on Friday, Dec. 19, at 7:10 p.m.