Sports

Offense works, defense doesn’t in B-R losses

By Matthew Semisch

02/03/2015

Not much new information was learned last week about Bottineau-Rugby’s (B-R) hockey team, but some long-standing truths made themselves evident again.

One of them is that the Braves know how to score. Between a home game against Minot High last Monday and a road tilt at Bismarck Century on Saturday, B-R found the back of its opponents’ nets seven times.

Another truth about B-R - this one much more unpleasant - that came to the fore again is that although they can score, they also have difficulty keeping pucks out of their own net. In an 11-4 home loss to the arch-rival Magicians last Monday and a 9-3 loss defeat on the road at Century on Saturday, B-R conceded 20 goals in 102 minutes of hockey.

MAGICIANS TOP B-R

The week actually started off well for the Braves when they welcomed Minot High to the Bottineau Community Arena last Monday. B-R forward Luke Amsbaugh opened the scoring just 2:25 into the game by coming into the slot alone and backhanding a shot past Magicians goaltender Breyden Effertz.

Minot answered 25 seconds later through Matt Flom’s first of three goals on the night. Two more times in the game, the Magicians answered Bottineau goals with tallies of their own less than a minute later.

Amsbaugh and fellow B-R senior forward Noah Grant both finished the game with two goals apiece. However, Braves head coach David Hoff suggested more could’ve come if his team had played smarter when in possession of the puck.

“It shouldn’t always be pretty, sometimes it’s got to be gritty,” he said. “The danger is that we promote pucks on sticks and possessing the puck, and sometimes that leads to trying to be too cute on offense, and not every play has to be perfect out there and we make a lot of poor decisions that way. 

“I was disappointed because we gave some pucks away that way that made things easy for (Minot).”

CENTURY BESTS BRAVES

B-R’s struggles continued on Saturday when they made the long trip south to take on another West Region rival in the form of Bismarck Century. Amsbaugh (twice) and Grant (once) were again the Braves’ only scorers in a 9-3 loss to the Patriots.

Century largely controlled all three periods of the game, and a four-goal outburst in the second period put the result on ice.
B-R goaltender Ethan Clements finished the game with 39 saves, including 15 in both the first and second periods.

The Braves (8-8-0 overall, 5-7-0 West Region) will host Mandan on Friday night in Rugby at 7:30 p.m. B-R will then  welcome West Fargo to the Bottineau Community Arena on Saturday, again at 7:30 p.m.