Sports

Braves earn sweep over region foes

By Tyler Ohmann

12/18/2012

An offensive explosion led to two West Region victories for the Bottineau-Rugby (BR) Braves hockey team this past weekend.

The Braves notched four points in the region by beating Hazen-Beulah 10-4 on Friday in Rugby and Williston 10-0 on Saturday in Williston.

BR kicked off their weekend successes on Friday when they were able to dismantle the Hazen-Beulah North Stars in Rugby 10-4.

The Braves scored twice in the first period to open up their lead. The line that produced most of the Braves offense over the weekend was responsible for both goals. The first came from sophomore Luke Amsbaugh, as he took passes from senior Cody Longie and junior Andrew Hill and put in the first BR goal.

BR took a 2-1 lead when junior Harrison Aide took an assist from Longie later in the first.
Amsbaugh scored two more goals in the second period as the Braves extended their lead and the offense continued. Also scoring in the period were Cody Bedlion and Braden Pewe.

Longie assisted on all four goals in the period, and Aide picked up two assists, while Bedlion assisted on the Pewe goal.

Longie continued his terrific night in the third period as the Braves piled on four more goals. Longie scored the first two as Bedlion dished out assists on both goals. Pewe and Noah Grant also picked up assists.

Aide provided the ninth BR goal of the night as Amsbaugh assisted.

The Braves scoring was topped off as Nigel Hageness scored the 10th and final goal of the six-goal win. Bedlion and Pewe assisted.

In total Longie finished with two goals and six assists in the game. Bedlion had a goal and four assists. Amsbaugh had a hat trick to go with an assist, and Aide had a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Pewe finished with a goal and two assists.
Riley Monson earned the win in net as he stopped 18 of the North Stars 22 shots.

The BR offense continued to be on fire in a 10-0 shut out victory over Williston on Saturday.
The Braves came out hot once again by scoring five goals in the first period alone.

Amsbaugh earned his second hat trick of the weekend and it only took him one period to do it. Amsbaugh kicked off the scoring and also scored the third and fourth goals of the period as well.

Pewe scored the second goal as Tanner Lunde earned his first points of the season with the assist. Also scoring in the period for the Braves was Longie. Senior Wyatt Johnson picked up a pair of assists in the period, as did Aide.

Longie once again continued his hot play as he also earned a hat trick with a pair of goals in the second period to add to the one in the first. Amsbaugh assisted on both goals, and Aide assisted on the second one of the period.

Maverick Gronvold scored the eighth BR goal, it was his first points of the season. Longie and Grant assisted on the play.

BR finished off their strong performance in third with goals from Hill and Amsbaugh. Longie assisted on both goals and Aide assisted on the Amsbaugh goal.

In total for the game Amsbaugh had four goals and a pair of assists. Longie had a hat trick to go along with three assists. Aide had four helpers in the win.
Monson earned the shut out with 13 saves, including nine in the final period. BR out shot Williston 38-13.

BR head coach David Hoff was impressed with the way the Braves played against Williston.

“I thought we were sharper against Williston,” Hoff stated. “We possessed the puck and moved it very well in Williston.”  

Hoff was satisfied with the region wins, and the play of the players.

“We were happy to pick up a couple region wins going into the Christmas break,” Hoff stated. “The region wins were the most important part, but if you look at the scoring we had a few guys who had huge weekends. I really think we can get better yet in some of these offensive areas as well. We will see how we progress after the Christmas break.”

The Braves improved to 5-1-1 overall on the season and 2-1-1 in the West Region. With seven points they still sit in seventh place out of nine in the west. However, they are only two points behind Jamestown, Dickinson, Bismarck High and Minot, who are all tied for third with nine points.

Bismarck Century is in first with 15 points, and Mandan has 11 points and is in second.

The Braves do not see action again until after the break, when they will play on the road in Jamestown on Jan. 4 and Mandan on Jan. 5.