Sports

Jacks lose, tie with Bison

By Tyler Ohmann

11/08/2011

The Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks hockey team relapsed this weekend.

After a split of games last weekend the Jacks were looking to improve this weekend against North Dakota State University’s (NDSU) club hockey team in the Lumberdome.

However, it was the Bison who got the better of the series coming from behind to force a 4-4 tie on Friday night, and then bursting past the Jacks entroute to an 8-4 win on Saturday afternoon.

“They beat us to a lot of the open pucks and open areas, and bad results happen when that happens,” said Jacks assistant coach Ron Gullett. “I think the Bison are better than they have been in previous years.”

In Friday’s 4-4 tie it was the Jacks special teams that gave them a lead early.

At 13:24 freshman Seth Serhienko, who played for Bottineau High School last year, scored his fourth goal of the season on a shorthanded opportunity as he beat two Bison defenders and backhanded a shot past NDSU goalie Trevor Tabaka. Assists were made by Brenden Cawston and Scott Walters.

“You have to have some goal scorers for sure, and I think we have a handful of those,” Gullett said.

Tyler Groth evened the score for the Bison later in the first on an even strength goal.

The Jacks 5-on-5 defense allowed all four goals on the evening.
Gullett said the struggles came from lack of accountability.

“Whether you are 18 or 21 you have to take ownership of your ability and you have to be accountable,” Gullett said. “We have guys who need to become more accountable for their positions.”

The Jacks would score twice more in the period, both on the power play.
First Cole Reisenauer pushed past his first goal of the season. Assisting were Serhienko and Nick Sutton.

Again an even strength goal by the Bison tied the game, but with less than a minute remaining in the first period, Jake Plutowski, the Jacks leading scorer from a year ago, again struck for a power play goal. Assists came from Reisenauer and Will Kinsman.

The Jacks would take a 4-2 lead in the second period when Reisenauer struck again. Plutowski and Walters assisted.

However, the Jacks would allow goals in the second and midway through the third period to even the score.

Neither team broke the tie in overtime.

Sophomore netminder Troy Chandler had 38 saves in the tie. Tabaka had 26 for the Bison, who outshot the Jacks 42-30.

Saturday the Jacks fell behind early and had a tough time clawing their way back.

The Jacks and freshman goaltender Drew Allan allowed five first-period goals. Allan was barraged with Bison shots as they out shot the Jacks 25-9 in the opening frame.

 “They jumped on us early and dug too big a hole to get of,” Gullett said. “I think for about 40 of the 120 minutes (this weekend)we had pretty poor effort.”

The first period of Saturday’s game was 20 minutes of that.
Goals from five different Bison, all on even strength, gave them an early lead. Gullett is hoping a leader will step and get the team motivated.

“We are very young for sure, and you can’t take shifts off, you can’t take periods off,” Gullett said. “We need some leadership to step up and take the lead on the team.”

Gullett also credited NDSU for playing well in the series.

“Hats off to NDSU; they have some pretty good talent over there this year, but we just have to work harder,” Gullett said. “Overall I think there is a lot of room for improvement, but if we have some guys step up and take some leadership roles we’ll be all right.”

The Jacks finally were able to crack the scoreboard at 5:23 in the second period, after falling behind 7-0. The goal was scored by Plutowski, Damon Reevers assisted.

DCB closed the gap to within five at the end of the second as Jonny Heidbrenk scored an unassisted mark, his first of the season.
In the third the Jacks reduced the margin to four at 18:53 with a goal from Ryan Schaner. Sophomores Wade Haight and Luke Cieklinski assisted.

After falling behind 8-3, the Jacks scored their final goal of the weekend when Reisenauer tallied his third of the weekend. Haight and Serhienko were credited with assists.

Serhienko now keads the Jacks with eight points on the season (four goals and four assists) and has scored in four of the Jacks five games.
Allan, who started, but played only the first period at goaltender, had 20 saves. Chandler had 19 saves in the second and third periods for the Jacks.
With the loss and the tie over the weekend the Jacks fall to 1-3-1 on the young season.

“We’ll get better. It’s early,” Gullett said. “We got a late start on practices and an early start on games, and that is kind of showing right now.”

The Jacks will travel to St. Cloud, Minn. to take on the St. Johns University JV team next Friday and Saturday.