News

Braves bested in thrilling shoot out finish

By Tyler Ohmann

12/04/2012

Winless was not how Bottineau-Rugby (BR) Braves hockey team expected to come away when they opened their region season with home games against Jamestown and Dickinson.

However, with a 7-2 loss to Jamestown in Rugby on Friday and a 6-5 shoot out loss to Dickinson on Saturday, that’s exactly how the weekend played out for the Braves (3-1-1, 0-1-1).

First on Friday the Braves played their first home game in West Region play of the season in Rugby against Jamestown.

The  Blue Jays opened up an early lead on the Braves and never looked back as they took a 4-1 lead after one period.

The lone BR goal came from junior Harrison Aide as he used assists from sophomore Luke Amsbaugh and junior Andrew Hill to score the first Braves goal.

The Blue Jays added two more goals in the second period to take a 6-1 lead heading into the final frame.

BR was able to score once more in the 7-2 loss, as senior Cody Longie netted a third-period goal. Earning helpers on the play were Hill and Aide.
Riley Monson had 23 saves for the Braves in net.
BR’s woes continued on Saturday as the Braves hosted Dickinson for their second region match up of the season.

Both teams traded goals the entire game as it eventually went to a shoot out where the fifth Dickinson shooter finally was able to flip the puck past Monson.

The Braves and Midgets tied 1-1 in the first quarter as BR got a goal from Amsbaugh with an Aide assist helping on the play.

Both teams exploded in the second period, netting three goals a piece.

BR goals came from Longie, Amsbaugh and Aide. Aide assisted on the other two goals, while Hill assisted on the Amsbaugh goal, and Cody Bedlion and Amsbuagh earned helpers on the Aide goal.

Amsbaugh said that the line with he and Aide is productive because they’ve been playing together for quite awhile.

“Me and Harrison have been together the whole time and we work good together,” Amsbaugh said.

After sitting out 10 minutes for a misconduct Longie returned in the third period and wound up scoring an unassisted, game-tying goal to force overtime.

There both goaltenders played stoutly and a shoot out was needed to decide the outcome.

On Dickinson’s fifth shooter they finally broke the 5-5 tie. However, none of the five Bottineau shooters were able to get it past Midget’s netminder Jamie Gray.

“It was a tough weekend from the standpoint that we were not able to pick up a win,” stated Braves head coach David Hoff. “We had penalty trouble both nights and made it tough on ourselves. We have to try to stay out of the penalty box and make it easier on ourselves.”

Perhaps the closest to scoring in the shoot out was Amsbaugh, who beat Gray with his stick, but was unable to elevate and Gray stopped the puck with his arm as he dove to recover.

“I had him beat,” Amsbaugh said. “If I would have lifted the puck over his arm, I could have put it in.”
However, Amsbaugh said it was still fun to be in a shoot out, even if the Braves wound up on the losing end.

“It was really fun, even though we lost, shoot outs are always fun,” Amsbaugh said.

Amsbaugh, Longie and Aide are three of the most experienced returners for the Braves, who went from on of the deepest teams in North Dakota to a still-talented, but less deep team this season.

“It’s way different, we still have a lot of skill and stuff, but the numbers are way down,” Amsbaugh said. “Yeah, it changes the way we play, especially toward the end of the game, because it’s harder to work hard.”

The Braves also won their third game of the season last Tuesday as they downed Canadian foe Deloraine for the second time in Bottineau-Rugby’s home opener.

BR shut out Deloraine 4-0 in the win as Monson had 23 saves in the shut out for the Braves.

Scoring for BR was kicked off in the first period by Longie, who received passes from Aide and Amsbaugh to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.

That lead held until the third period where the Braves were able to extend it by three and close out a 4-0 win.

Scoring in the final frame were Braden Pewe with assists from Bedlion and Noah Grant and Aide twice, the first was assisted by Longie and earning a helper on the second was Maverick Gronvold.

“I thought we had better play from a lot of guys in this game than we did when we played them up in Deloraine,” Hoff stated. “Both goaltenders were pretty good in the game in Bottineau.”  

Hoff was impressed with his teams ability when they had possession of the puck.

“I like our play when we have the puck, we really have to get better when we do not have it,” Hoff stated. “We have to be more aggressive without the puck.”

Despite a 3-1-1 overall record, the Braves sit in seventh place in the West Region currently with one point and a 0-1-1 record.

Bottineau-Rugby now has a week off before their next battle, which will be a region match up against Hazen-Beulah in Rugby on Dec. 14.

Notes:

•  Leading the Braves in scoring is the junior Aide. He has 19 points on five goals and 14 assists.
•  Amsbaugh, Longie and Hill have also gotten out to fast starts. Amsbaugh has 14 points on seven goals and seven assists. Longie has 10 points (six goals, four assists), while Hill has nine points (three goals, six assists).