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When the North American Hockey League playoffs began a month ago, St. Louis Bandits goaltender Tyler Bruggeman had a rough outing in his first game.
The former Mankato West standout allowed three goals on 13 shots in a 3-2 home loss to the Texas Tornado and was benched for Game 2.
“I didn’t play well,” Bruggeman said. “I needed to figure it out if we wanted to win.”
The Bandits lost the second game, too, and Bruggeman was given another chance as his team faced elimination in the best-of-five series.
“I couldn’t even tell you what changed,” he said. “I just didn’t want to come home and play golf. I just relaxed and let it all happen.”
Bruggeman hasn’t come out of the net since that night, when he stopped 27 shots in a 1-0 shutout in Texas. After that, he stopped 45 shots in a 3-2 triple-overtime win and 17 in a 3-2 single-overtime victory that propelled the Bandits into the next round.
“We battled it out,” he said.
Five games after that, on Monday night, Bruggeman pitched another shutout, stopping 24 shots on the road against the Topeka Roadrunners and put St. Louis into the national tournament.
Starting Tuesday in Wenatchee, Wash., Bruggeman and company will be playing for the Robertson Cup, the NAHL playoff championship and USA Hockey’s Tier II Junior A national title.
The five-team tournament will run through May 9. After four games of round-robin play, the top two teams will square off for the championship.
“It’s fun,” Bruggeman said. “Halfway through the year I thought, ‘This is a grind.’ But I got through it, and I’m feeling good.”
Bruggeman graduated from West in 2009 but spent most of that year in Fargo, N.D., as a member of the United States Hockey League’s Fargo Force. He practiced all season with the Tier I team but played in only one game.
This season, Bruggeman started the year with the NAHL’s franchise in Fairbanks, Alaska, but was traded to St. Louis after playing in just eight games.
After the trade, he went 21-4-1 with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. Overall, he ranked second in the NAHL in both categories during the regular season.
Even with that ugly first game, his numbers have improved during the playoffs. He has gone 6-3 while allowing 1.65 goals per game and stopping 93.3 percent of opponents’ shots.
Bruggeman is hoping his performance is catching the attention of Division I college coaches.
While he has heard from a few recruiters, he said it’s likely that he’ll play another year of junior hockey — either in St. Louis again or the USHL if the chance is there — before going to college.
“The future is really wide open,” he said.
What happens over the next week may open it up even more.
“Overall, you have to win,” Bruggeman said. “Right now, you have to win, and the other stuff will come.”
Other teams playing for the Robertson Cup include the host Wenatchee Wild, Bismarck (N.D.) Bobcats, Traverse City (Mich.) North Stars and Bruggeman’s former team, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs.
Fairbanks’ roster includes Minnesota State recruit, defenseman Josh Nelson. Wentachee’s associate coach is ex-MSU player Ryan McKelvie.
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Related Photos
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Mankato West graduate Tyler Bruggeman has made an impressive run through the North American Hockey League playoffs, playing in goal for the St. Louis Bandits junior team. Bruggeman and the Bandits will compete in the Robertson Cup national tournament in Wenatchee, Wash., starting on Tuesday. Ryan Casey
Former West standout Tyler Bruggeman is in a zone
Goalie leads his team to NAHL national tournament
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