Sports

Stars gearing up for state

By Matthew Semisch

03/03/2015

The Bottineau U-19 girls hockey team has known for the past three weeks that it will be the No. 4 seed in this weekend’s state tournament in Bismarck.

That’s a relatively high bar in the 15-team North Dakota Amateur Hockey Association (NDAHA) under-19 league. However, Bottineau has hopes of finishing even higher than where they are heading into the postseason.

The Stars used their final two home games of the regular season last Saturday as tune-ups. Bottineau performed well in both games, defeating Park River 9-0 in the early game at Bottineau Community Arena before the Stars skated to a 2-2 exhibition tie against Canadian opponent Melita.

Against Park River, senior forward Erin Severson led the way with three goals in her final non-exhibition home game for the Stars. Katelynn Kerslake and Cheyenne Sturlaugson were also big contributors in the game with two tallies apiece.

“I think we played a little bit more loose as the game went on,” Stars head coach Matt Johnson said, “and it helps that we’re already set for where we’re going to be at state. “We know where we’re going, and now it’s just about polishing things up and being ready to go next week.”

Kerslake and Sonja Gilje found their way onto the scoresheet in the exhibition draw against Melita.

The Stars’ 2014-15 season will end this weekend at the state tournament at Schaumberg Arena in Bismarck. Bottineau will open state tourney play on Friday at 2:15 p.m. against Crosby.

The Stars won their only previous encounter with Crosby with a 3-1 road victory on Feb. 9.

The winner of the teams’ game on Friday will face either Richland or Mayport on Saturday. The championship game of the tournament will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m.