Sports

One step short

By Matthew Semisch

02/24/2015

BISMARCK - If Bottineau-Rugby (B-R) should take anything from this boys’ high school hockey season, it’s that the Braves didn’t know they were beaten until the very last horn sounded.

B-R came into last weekend’s West Region tournament as the competition’s No. 6 seed. With eight teams battling at Bismarck’s VFW Sports Center for four spots in this weekend’s state tournament in Fargo, the Braves were considered a long-shot to advance.

They very nearly did, however. Following a 6-0 opening-round loss to Minot High on Thursday, B-R defeated Dickinson 3-2 in double-overtime on Friday and only fell 7-6 to Mandan in a state-qualifier game on the final day of the regional tournament.

The Braves’ time in Bismarck started off particularly poorly, though, when B-R faced Minot on Thursday for the third time in less than a month. The Magicians swept B-R in the teams’ home-and-home regular season series, and Minot easily brushed the Braves aside once more in Bismarck.

B-R goaltender Ethan Clements made 38 saves against the Magicians. Two goals in each period, however, proved to be more than enough goal support for Minot.

BRAVES WIN MARATHON GAME

After falling to Minot, B-R found itself in a win-or-go-home situation on Friday against No. 7 Dickinson. The winner of that game would move on to a state-qualifier on Saturday while the other would see its season end.

B-R and the Midgets looked evenly matched both on paper and on the ice. A back-and-forth game saw the Braves both take and cough up leads twice within regulation.

A power play goal from Luke Amsbaugh gave B-R a 1-0 lead 4:44 into the second period, but Dickinson would cancel that out with a goal of its own before the frame ended. Noah Grant then restored the Braves’ lead at 6:28 of the third period before the Midgets’ Anthony Kostelecky tied the game back up with 11.4 seconds left in regulation.

An eight-minute first overtime frame came and went without either team burying a game-winning goal. Thirty-two seconds into a second extra period, though, Grant poked home the rebound from an Austyn Lorenz shot to win the game and keep B-R’s season alive.

“I just kind of saw an opening where I could get the puck to the net,” Grant said, “and any puck to the net in overtime is a good play to make. 

“I threw it on net and the goaltender didn’t really see it and it only went in by an inch or so and I just was like, ‘Wow,’ and it was a really lucky goal but capitalizing on your chances in overtime is what you do.”

MANDAN OUTS B-R

B-R moved on to Saturday’s state-qualifier game against Mandan, but it was there that the Braves’ luck eventually ran out in a 7-6 defeat.

Mandan got a big scare on its way to Fargo, however. It led 7-3 after two periods, but three B-R goals in the third frame - two of four on the day for Amsbaugh plus a third of the period from Casey Tooke - meant Mandan had to sweat out the final minutes of the game.

“When we scored the sixth goal here,” Braves head coach David Hoff said, “I thought we still had plenty of time to tie the game or even get a winner if things went well, and I liked the fact that our kids kept battling out there. 

“You can’t ask for more than that, and we just came up a goal short.”

B-R (10-13-0) now loses three seniors: Amsbaugh, Grant and Braden Pewe.