Sports
Tetons edge Jacks for control in series
Tyler Ohmann
01/31/2012
The Dakota College at Bottineau hockey team’s chances of making nationals became slimmer after falling 1-0 to Williston State in game three of the best of five series.
The winner of the series heads to New York to play in the NJCAA national tournament, the loser’s season is done.
The Jacks and the Tetons were tied entering Tuesday night’s contest in Bottineau, after the Tetons evened it on Jan. 10 with a 3-0 win over the Jacks.
Williston scored the lone goal of the game in the first period and led throughout the first period, as DCB was unable to capitalize on several good scoring chances early in the game.
“We had a lot of good chances tonight. We generated a lot of net traffic,” said Jacks Head Coach Travis Rybchinski. “When we had those chances to bury them we missed the net.”
The momentum appeared to shift toward DCB in the second as they found the back of the net late in the period, but the goal was immediately waved off.
“I thought that one was a legitimate goal that we scored, and that changed the momentum a little bit,” Rybchinski said. “We battled hard, and battled back, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
The Tetons goal came on the power play, and Rybchinski admitted that special teams appeared to be a factor. The Jacks were 0-for-1 on the power play and the Tetons were 1-for-3.
“They’re goal was a power play goal, and that was the difference tonight,” Rybchinski said. “Special teams was the difference, and it was a tough loss, but we’ll battle back and get them next time.”
Though the breaks have not fallen their way and the Jacks are now faced with elimination in their next game against the Tetons, which is in Bottineau on Saturday, Rybchinski and the Jacks said they are not going to give up yet.
“I just told the guys we need to keep working hard in practice,” Rybchinski said. “We are doing the right things, we just aren’t getting any breaks.”
“The harder we work the more breaks we’re going to get,” Rybchinski added.
The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Jacks and dropped their overall record to 8-14-1 on the season.
Before the fourth game against Williston on Saturday, the Jacks host Minot State at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Lumberdome.