Sports
Cyclones rip through Jacks
Matthew Semisch
11/11/2014
Despite being a Bottineau native, Seth Serhienko hadn’t played competitively at the Bottineau Community Arena in a year and a half before Sunday.
Because of that, the Iowa State senior knew that he would have to get re-acclimated to the Bottineau rink’s quirks. The quality of the ice surface and how pucks bounce off certain sections of the boards were going to have to take getting used to again.
The entire Cyclones team had to get comfortable quickly on Sunday against Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB). That’s exactly what happened in what ended up as a 4-0 win for ISU.
The win capped off a long three-day homecoming weekend for Serhienko. Much of the former Bottineau-Rugby high school and DCB junior college standout’s extended family lives in Minot, and they were able to see Serhienko play in ISU’s pair of one-goal losses at Minot State on Friday and Saturday.
The Cyclones then picked up a win on Sunday to cap off their first trip to the Peace Garden State since before Serhienko made the move to Ames, Iowa last year. Speaking after the victory over his last school, he said he had enjoyed the opportunity to play in his old stomping grounds again.
“This whole weekend was pretty exciting for me, just an absolute blast,” Serhienko said. “I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect for my last game here and in Minot, but it was a lot of fun.
“I had a lot of family down in Minot (on Saturday) and Friday and then also here today, and to get a few points in front of them was pretty good as last hurrahs go.”
Serhienko was in ISU’s starting lineup on Sunday and received a loud and warm welcome from the crowd as his name was read off over the PA system. After that, though, he was all business.
It must have been an emotional day, but it didn’t look as though that was getting the best of him. ISU forward Matt Szpak opened the scoring 3:19 into the game, taking a feed from Serhienko before beating Lumberjacks goaltender Ryan Miner from close range.
Just 1:51 later, the Cyclones doubled their lead when a shot from forward Jake Bruhn found the back of DCB’s net. ISU was all over the Jacks early, and it stayed that way through the end of a first period in which the Cyclones outshot DCB 17-6.
The Jacks got better as the game went on, but it was clear they were overmatched by a much more talented team. ISU picked up another two goals in the third period, including a second of the game from Szpak at 10:46, and ended up outshooting the Jacks 51-23.
Cyclones goaltender Derek Moser picked up the shutout win after stopping every DCB shot that eluded ISU’s defenders.
Despite giving up four goals in Sunday’s game, Miner was superb in net for DCB.The sophomore from Winnipeg ended the game with 47 saves and kept the score from getting further out of hand.
Cyclones head coach Jason Fairman made a point of allowing Serhienko to remain on the ice as much as possible over the final minute of the game. Serhienko took one short shift off before returning for the tilt’s final seconds.
“It was really nice to get to finish the game out,” he said. “I have a lot of great memories in this place, and getting to play out the end of my last game here is definitely one of them.”
Jacks head coach Travis Rybchinski praised Miner after the game. Although several things didn’t go his team’s way, Rybchinski explained, he couldn’t his netminder.
“With these guys that we have in our room, you go into every game expecting to win,” he said, “Having said that, realistically, Iowa State has more skill than us, and if they play as hard as us, that’s a team that should beat us.
“You’ve just got to hope for good goaltending and get a couple of bounces, and we got the goaltending but we didn’t get the bounces and get pucks into the other net.”
Even with that in mind, though, Rybchinksi was pleased to see his team bounce back from what had been a rough start for DCB on Sunday.
“I thought we gave them too much room in the first 10 minutes,” Rybchinski said, “but after a few shifts, we started to think that, hey, we can play with these guys.”
DCB (3-4-0) is on the road next week against the JV teams from St. Norbert, Marion and Concordia (Wis.).