Sports
Braves skate to two West Region wins
Tyler Ohmann
12/06/2011
The Bottineau Braves hockey team remained undefeated with two home region wins this past weekend.
The Braves took part in a 7-6 overtime thriller over Jamestown on Friday evening and an 8-0 blanking of Dickinson on Saturday to keep a zero in the loss column.
“It was good weekend in that we picked up two big wins in region play,” stated Braves Head Coach David Hoff.
On Friday night it looked as if the Braves were going to cruise to an easy win as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period. Scoring goals in the first 24:32 of the game were Harrison Aide, Logan Millican and Kyle Volk. The Volk marker was scored on the power play and assists were credited to Nick Monson and Andrew Hill. Taylor Neubauer assisted the Aide goal.
But the Braves lead slipped away as the Blue Jays scored three unanswered second period goals to even the game after two periods.
The teams would battle back and forth in the third period, trading goals like a heavyweight boxing match up. The well-filled arena lived and died with the emotions of the game.
Bottineau got power play goals from Zach Kihle and Millican in the third period, as well as a goal by Monson. Aide, Kihle, Jackson Bernstein and Ging Martin all had helpers.
The Blue Jays would tie the game with less than five minutes remaining, and despite big efforts from both squads the game headed to overtime.
That was where the Braves took over. The Braves pelted the net with shots and at 2:01 it was Monson who slammed home the rebound to give Bottineau a 7-6 victory.
“It felt pretty good to get the win for the team,” Monson said. “Bernstein had a nice drop back to Logan, Logan got a good shot, and I found the rebound and got to put it away.”
Monson said that the Braves practice that type of play often.
“In practice we do a lot of shoot low, go for rebounds,” Monson said.
Monson said he was just happy to get a win for his team in the end though.
“We struggled a little bit, but it was good to get the two points in the end,” Monson said.
His coach had hoped the game would have gone a bit more smoothly.
“We should have gotten out of the Jamestown game a lot easier than we did,” Hoff stated. “They had some guys who just kept making plays and getting them right back in it.”
Despite the narrow win, Hoff was happy with where the game took them as a team.
“I liked the atmosphere. We ended up in a game where one play was going to make the difference,” Hoff stated. “Hopefully it was a good team win and we can learn from the defensive mistakes.”
Cody Brooks got his second win in net stopping 23-of-29 Blue Jay shots. Bottineau out shot Jamestown 55-29.
Both the Braves and the Blue Jays had eight penalties.
On Saturday the game was all Braves following a slow-paced first period.
In the first neither team was able to hit the back of the net, though not from lack of effort for the Braves.
“Every region game is important,” Monson said. “We kind of struggled in the first, but we improved in the second and third and got the win.”
The Braves did pick it up in the late periods, the second period especially.
In the second Bottineau scored five times including twice by Volk. Near the start of the period Bottineau was off and skating, as Volk took passes from Kihle and Aide to draw first blood.
Only 16 seconds later Millican notched his first goal of the night. Longie was credited with the assist. Longie scored his own goal as part of another two-goal surge late in the period.
At 16:02 Volk got his second of the period on a pass from Monson. Then Longie took passes from Hill and Millican to make it a 5-0 lead.
Freshman Luke Amsbaugh also scored in the period on an assist from Hill.
Amsbaugh would snag a hat trick on the night scoring twice more in the third period. Aide and Wyatt Johnson assisted on either of Amsbaugh’s third period markers.
Bernstein also scored in the final period (Millican assist) to make it an 8-0 win.
“We have a lot of guys who can score,” Monson said. “Twelve guys, four lines that can, and we have a lot of D.”
Bottineau out shot Dickinson 43-9 in the win, and Brooks stopped all nine Dickinson shots to earn his second shutout of the young season.
“In the Dickinson game we came out and played pretty well the first six to eight minutes but couldn’t put anything on the board,” Hoff stated. “I thought they gained a little momentum out of that. We did get things going in the second period.”
Bottineau earned four points with the pair of West Region wins this weekend and stand at 3-0 overall this season.
They are currently tied with Hazen/Beulah and Bismarck high with four points. Bismarck Century has six points, and is in first.
“We have a lot of depth. We got a good goaltender. We have a good team,” Monson said. “We have a lot of improving to do, but I think we can do well in the end.”
The Braves have a week off and do not play again until a 7:30 p.m. match on Dec. 16 with Hazen/Beulah in Rugby.
Note: Logan Millican is currently leading the state of North Dakota in scoring with 11 points. He has eight goals and three assists in three games played. The next closest is at eight points. Six other Braves are in the top 20, and nine total in the top 25.