Austin Bruins will be Road Warriors in defense of their division title

Apr. 18—AUSTIN — History is on the Austin Bruins side as they open the North American Hockey League playoffs this weekend on the road.

Recent history, that's a different story.

The Bruins (31-25-4 overall) waited until the final weekend of the regular season — last weekend — to secure their place in the postseason. That wait, though, means they're the No. 4 seed in the Central Division playoffs and they'll have to become Road Warriors if they hope to defend their division postseason title.

They'll start this weekend with the longest road trip they make during a season — to Minot, N.D., for Games 1 and 2 of a best-of-5 Central Division semifinals series, against the top-seeded Minotauros (44-14-2).

Franchise history suggests this could be a good matchup for the Bruins. Austin is 5-1 all-time in playoff series (15-9 in playoff games) against Minot, including a 3-0 sweep of the Minotauros in the division semifinals a year ago. The last time Minot defeated Austin in a playoff series was in the 2017-18 division finals, in Steve Howard's first season as Bruins head coach.

Even though the Bruins have 10 players on their roster who were key parts of last year's run to the Robertson Cup championship game, this weekend isn't the past.

Minot has been a thorn in the Bruins' side this season. The Tauros have been a thorn in a lot of teams' sides this season. They hold a 9-3-0 record against Austin, including a 4-2-0 record at home and a 5-1-0 mark at Riverside Arena.

The silver lining for Austin: The Bruins are 4-1-1 in their past six games, while Minot is coming off being swept by rival Bismarck last weekend to close the regular season.

If the series comes down to goaltending, Austin could hold the advantage. Minot goalie Brady James is in the NAHL playoffs for the first time, after spending the past three seasons playing for Halifax in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. James is 24-6-1 for Minot this year, with a 2.12 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage and three shutouts.

Austin's Trent Wiemken, on the other hand, has not only been through the NAHL playoffs, he backstopped the Bruins to the national title game last season as an NAHL rookie. The Bemidji State commit is 21-13-3 with a 2.16 GAA, a .917 save pct., and four shutouts. Wiemken has been strong down the stretch, to help the Bruins make the postseason. He hasn't allowed more than four goals in a game this season, and hasn't surrendered more than three in a game since Jan. 6.

The Bruins certainly have experience on their side. Their top three scorers and four of their top six were lineup mainstays during last year's deep playoff run. They're led by third-year forward and captain Austin Salani, who's committed to play Division I hockey for Red Wing native and head coach Reid Cashman at Dartmouth. Salani has played in 184 games as a Bruin; this season he has a team-best 32 goals and 70 points.

Dylan Cook (15-38 — 53), Ocean Wallace (21-23 — 44) and Damon Furuseth (9-21 — 30) were also key players for the Bruins last season, as were defensemen Gio Fiorillo (2-7 — 9) and Ashton Bynum (2-22 — 24).

Former Bemidji State and Austin Bruins defenseman Kyle Looft has signed an Amateur Tryout Contract to play for the Texas Stars, the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Dallas Stars, the club announced Monday afternoon.

The Texas Stars are the top minor-league affiliate of the Dallas Stars.

Looft, a Mankato West High School graduate, was voted the CCHA Defenseman of the Year this year, his fifth year with Bemidji State. He was also named the league's Best Defensive Defenseman, was an All-CCHA First Team selection, a CCHA Scholar-Athlete and an All-Academic Team selection.

Four times this season, he was named the CCHA Defenseman of the Week and twice earned CCHA Defenseman of the Month honors.

Looft, 25, played in the second most games in BSU's history and the most by a defenseman (169). He had 15 goals and 38 assists in his college career.

Looft reported to Cedar Park, Texas, home of the Texas Stars, and began skating with the team immediately after signing. The Stars wrap up the regular season Friday and Saturday at home against the Manitoba Moose. They have clinched a spot in the AHL's Calder Cup Playoffs.

Looft played at Mankato West from 2013-17, where he had 43 career goals and 79 assists, for 122 points. When his senior season ended in 2017, he played 12 games in Austin, where he had 2 goals and 7 total points.

His younger brother, Nate, was an alternate captain for the Bruins last season, when they reached the NAHL Robertson Cup championship game.

It's been a head-spinning six-week stretch for young Austin Bruins forward John Hirschfeld.

The St. Cloud Cathedral star finished his senior high school season as the state's leader in assists (56) and the fourth-leading scorer in the state (83), only behind three Section 1 players — La Crescent-Hokah's Wyatt Farrell (92) and Noah Gillette (86), and Winona's Teis Larsen (84). The highlight of Hirschfeld's senior season, though, was what could be his final high school game, in which he assisted on two goals to lead Cathedral to a 3-1 win against Hermantown in the Class 1A state championship game.

Hirschfeld and three goals and eight points in three state tournament games, including scoring the game winner in a 4-3 overtime win against Warroad in the semifinals.

A few days later, he joined the Bruins for the remainder of the season.

He joined the Bruins and played in his first junior hockey game just six days after the state tournament concluded. Hirschfeld, a 5-foot-9, 173-pound left-shot forward, has two points in 10 games for Austin.

This week, Hirschfeld checked another major decision off of his list: He committed to play Division I college hockey at the University of Vermont. He is projected to head to Burlington, Vt., in the fall of 2026.

The Catamounts currently have two former Bruins on their roster. Jack Malinski was a freshman defenseman this season, while Jens Richards was a sophomore forward. Richards led the team in scoring with 10 goals and 21 points.

Hirschfeld, who is 17, has one year of high school eligibility remaining, though he could forgo that to play a full season of junior hockey in 2024-25.

—Former John Marshall standout defenseman Jayden Veney completed his first season in the USHL last week, and is back home in Rochester. Veney, a Union College commit, had two assists in 35 games for the Omaha Lancers.

—Rochester native Gavin Kor is playing for the Fargo Force of the USHL. Fargo recently won the Anderson Cup as the USHL's regular season champion for a second straight season. The Force will take the No. 1 seed into the Clark Cup playoffs. Kor joined the Force at the start of the season as just a 16-year-old, a rarity in the USHL. He played at Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault the past two seasons. Gavin Morrissey, who led the Bruins with 61 regular-season points last year, also plays for the Force. Morrissey, a Wisconsin commit, has 10 goals and 24 points in 34 games. Top-seeded Fargo opens play in the best-of-5 Western Conference semifinals at home at 6:05 p.m. Saturday against Tri-City.

—Two local standouts played with the USHL's Chicago Steel as they qualified for the league's playoffs. Rochester native and University of Michigan commit Hunter Hady is a third-year defenseman for the Steel, while Red Wing native Brady Arneson is a forward. Chicago lost 3-2 in overtime in a decisive Game 3 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Green Bay Gamblers on Wednesday night, ending the Steel's season. Hady is a physical defensive-defenseman who stands 6-feet-4, 205 pounds. He had two goals and eight points in 56 games this season, including a goal in Chicago's 5-2 win against Green Bay in Game 2 of their playoff series Tuesday night. Arneson, a University of Maine commit, had four goals in 20 games this season, his second with the Steel. He played in all three playoff games against Green Bay. The 19-year-old had five points in 40 games for Chicago last season. He will join Maine either this fall or in the fall of 2025. He is the younger brother of Blake Arneson, who played for both the Austin Bruins and Rochester Grizzlies, and is now at Saint Mary's in Winona.

—Two more players who were keys to last year's Robertson Cup run by the Austin Bruins are on the same side in the USHL playoffs. Forward Josh Giuliani and defenseman Matt Desiderio are regulars in the Dubuque Fighting Saints lineup. Giuliani has 5 goals and 18 points in 55 games for Dubuque, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, while Desiderio has 3 goals and 14 points in 46 games. The 6-4, 209-pound Desiderio is committed to Brown University. He is just 18, but could join the Bears as soon as this fall. The Fighting Saints will face Youngstown in an Eastern Conference semifinal series beginning Saturday.