Sports
Jacks slide past Golden Eagles
Tyler Ohmann
11/22/2011
The Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks hockey team is, as Bachmann-Turner-Overdrive put it, ‘taking care of business.’
The past weekend a sweep of the University of Minnesota-Crookston (UMC) looked to put the Jacks back on track for the season.
“It was very important to try and get on a roll,” said Jacks Head Coach Travis Rybchinski. “We need to beat teams that we should beat.”
It was the same case for the players as well.
“It feels great. We’ve been kind of whatever,” said sophomore Jake Plutowski. “But it’s nice to get a couple wins, get the boys back together.”
Plutowski had a six-point weekend, including a four-point performance in Saturday’s 9-3 win.
However, the weekend began with a 7-2 victory over UMC.
On Friday the Jacks started quick, scoring two early goals to take a lead.
Goals from Cole Reisenauer and Plutowski kick started the Jacks offense. Will Kinsman and Kirby Braybrook had assists on the goals. Late in the first Crookston would draw within one.
The second period was all Jacks, as DCB scored twice to make it a 4-1 lead.
Wade Haight took passes from Nick Sutton and Patrick Martin for the Jacks third goal, while Doug Evans scored the fourth with an assist from Patrick Gates.
The Jacks would allow one more goal in the final period, but would touch the back of the net three more times themselves in route to the win.
Plutowski got his second goal at 12:02. Scott Walter assisted.
Chad Miller and Kinsman scored the other two in the period. Seth Serhienko, Reisenhauer and Miller all had assists in the period.
Troy Chandler had 23 saves for the Jacks and UMC goalie Matt Steinemetz was 52-for-59 in save opportunities.
One thing the Jacks appeared to improve upon was crashing the net and getting rebounds. Rybchinski said they had been working on that in practice.
“All week in practice we worked on getting the puck to the net and I think the guys did well getting those secondary shots,” Rybchinski said. “We did a good job of playing consistent.”
Plutowski agrees that getting to the net will help the Jacks be successful goal scorers.
“You have to pay the price to get anything,” Plutowski said. “Getting to the net is our big thing that we are trying to do right now. We did it a lot and it helped.”
The Jacks continued their solid play on Saturday as they used another gigantic shooting difference (43-17) to blast past UMC.
The Jacks began quickly again as they scored less than three minutes into the contest. With the goal was Sweden native Robin Danielsson. Plutowski was credited with the lone assist.
“I just try to play better every practice, every game,” Plutowski said. “I try to be with the guys and be where I need to, to help out my line and my teammates.”
Plutowksi had a busy first period as he assisted on a Serhienko goal later in the first and managed to score a shorthanded goal at 6:51. He also added a helper in the final period on a Walters’s goal.
The Jacks would score four total goals in the first period. Reisenhauser got the other one. Assists in the period went out to Ryan Palas and Braybrook.
The Jacks’ onslaught did not stop in the second period. Though allowing a couple goals the Jacks added three more of their own to take a 7-2 lead entering the final frame.
Second period goals from Miller, Braybrook and Haight extended the DCB lead.
Kinsman, Sutton and Gates all had helpers in the period.
Reisenhauser and Walters put the finishing touches on the Golden Eagles’ weekend with goals in the final period.
Kinsman and Gates got assists on the game’s final goals.
The Jacks out shot the Golden Eagles 111-45 over the weekend and a big reason was the defensemen’s use of their sticks as the Eagles entered their zones.
“Another thing we worked on with our defensemen was holding the line,” Rybchinski said. “That was something I though we did well too, especially in Saturday’s game.”
Chandler finished with nine saves in two periods on Saturday. Freshman Drew Allan went 8-for-9 in net in the last period.
The Jacks hit the road next weekend as they travel to Calgary, Alberta to try and avenge a 5-0 loss to Calgary Edge.
“It should be fun, and we play better on the road,” Rybchinski said. “And maybe we’ll get a little revenge from our loss to them earlier.”
Plutowski hopes this weekend’s success carries over to the road trip.
“It is going to help us, doing what we did this weekend,” Plutowski said. “It will help us roll into next weekend. They beat us 5-0 last time we played them, so we need to go in there with our heads held high and take it to them.”
Following the weekend split the Jacks now sit at 4-5-1 for the season.