Sports

Stars show strength at state

By Matthew Semisch

03/10/2015

BISMARCK - The Bottineau under-19 girls hockey team went into last weekend’s state tournament as the competition’s No. 4 seed, but the Stars had designs on finishing higher than that.

The Stars were out to avenge their sixth-place finish at the 2014 NDAHA U-19 state finals in Fargo. All signs heading into last weekend suggested that could happen, and Bottineau wasn’t short on confidence having won eight of its last 10 non-exhibition games.

The Stars made it nine out of 11 on Friday in the first round of this year’s showcase. Three Erin Severson goals and a pair of talliest from fellow Bottineau forward Sonja Gilje propelled the Stars to a 5-2 victory over fifth-seeded Crosby.

When Bottineau returned to the Schaumberg Ice Arena on Saturday for a semifinal tilt against Richland, the Stars hoped to parlay their built-up momentum into a berth in the state championship game. 

Paige Vad found the back of the Rangers’ net on Saturday and Bottineau goaltender Jacie Ceglowski made 29 saves. That wasn’t quite enough, however, as Richland came away with a 2-1 victory.

Bottineau performed better against Richland on Friday than the Stars did in a 4-0 loss in Sidney, Mont., on Feb. 6. Speaking after the teams’ rematch on Saturday, Bottineau head coach Matt Johnson said he couldn’t fault his team’s effort.

“That was a really good game all around, I thought, and probably one of our most complete games of the season on both offense and defense, and it was pretty back-and-forth,” he said. 

“I was proud of the girls, and they left everything out there on the ice. We played really well but just came up a little bit short.”

The Stars could have experienced a letdown on Sunday in a third-place game against Bismarck. Instead,  Bottineau had no such issue in a 5-2 win over the Capitals.

Vad found the back of the net twice more against Bismarck. Severson, forward Shelby Pedie and defenseman Elizabeth Hill picked up the rest of the Stars’ tallies.

Ceglowski also played a key role by making 38 saves against the Capitals. Thirteen of them came in the game’s third period.

“We worked really hard and thought we were going to get to play for a state championship,” Ceglowski said after Sunday’s game, “but I’m really proud of our team and where we are and how we became such a strong team in the end.”

Severson echoed her teammate’s views and added that the Stars worked to not view the third-place game as a letdown.

“I don’t think the Richland game upset any of us at all because that was a hard loss but they’re a really good team and we were pretty evenly matched,” Severson said. “We worked really hard and came back today and did what we had to do to finish up strong.”

Following the third-place game, Ceglowski, Severson and Gilje were named to the NDAHA All-Tournament Team.

Bottineau finished its 2014-15 season with a 19-6-0 record. The Stars now lose three seniors - Ceglowski, Pedie and Severson - from their roster.