Sports
Bottineau stands atop state 19U standings
Tyler Ohmann
01/02/2013
The last two weeks have been the toughest to date for the Bottineau 19U hockey team.
First on Dec. 15-16 Bottineau traveled to Bismarck and defeated two strong Fargo teams during the Bismarck Jamboree.
Following that Bottineau returned home for a pair of games against Bismarck on Dec. 22. In those closely contested games, Bottineau managed to win the first one, but lost the second.
However, it was a strong victory for Bottineau as the first game counted toward their record, while the loss was in an exhibition.
The undefeated record has Bottineau atop not only the West Division standings, but on top of the entire 19U hockey standings.
“It feels really good because not a lot of people give recognition to girls hockey, and now they’re starting to that they see that we’re on the top,” said Bottineau forward Karlee McCloud.
Frosty Fargo’s
First on Dec. 15-16 Bottineau traveled to the Bismarck Jamboree and improved their win streak to seven with wins over Fargo 14U and Fargo 19U both by the score of 5-3.
Two goals in both the first and second periods were all that Bottineau needed on Dec. 16 to take down Fargo 14U in the first game in the Bismarck Jamboree.
Erin Severson was the hero for Bottineau in the game, as she scored a pair of first-period goals to pace Bottineau. Alexis Kihle and Natalie Bahr both picked up assists in the first period.
Ashley Blue provided the killing blows with back-to-back second period goals, which put Bottineau up 4-1.
Fargo rallied and scored two goals in the third period, but Bahr took a pass from Severson and put the game even farther out of reach and gave Bottineau a 5-3 win.
Jacie Ceglowski played strongly in net, stopping 26-of-29 shots in the win.
Bottineau out shot Fargo 32-29.
The next day Bottineau won again as they stepped up big time against Fargo 19U in their second and final game of the Jamboree.
Bottineau rattled off five straight goals to start the game, which wound up being enough to win 5-3.
First McCloud scored on the power play in the first period. Blue assisted on the goal.
Blue scored another first-period, unassisted goal to put Bottineau up 2-0.
Severson and Paige Vad got into the scoring column with goals in the second period. McCloud and Blue each earned helpers in the period.
Severson scored again in the third to put Bottineau up 5-0. Bahr assisted on the goal.
Fargo 19U scored three straight times in the third period, but Bottineau held off the late charge to earn their seventh straight win of the season.
Ceglowski stopped 20 shots in 23 opportunities to earn the win in net.
Bottineau dominated the shot count, out shooting Fargo 19U 41-23.
Besting Bismarck
Bottineau kept their win streak rolling with a thrilling come-from-behind win on Dec. 22 as they hosted Bismarck and ousted them with a 5-4 win.
Bismarck opened up a 3-0 lead as Mckenzie Carlson scored a pair of goals.
Ashley Blue notched an unassisted marker in the second period to end the Bottineau scoring draught.
However, Bismarck scored again to take a 4-1 lead through two periods.
Blue brought Bottineau back within two as she took passes from McCloud and Bailey Neubauer at 16:30 in the third period.
Bottineau then made a miraculous comeback with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Blue scored twice in a one-minute span to tie the game. Sonja Gilje, Severson and Vad each notched assists on the pair of Blue goals.
Then with less than a minute remaining Bahr took a faceoff inside the offensive zone, which bounced over to McCloud, who pushed it past Bismarck netminder Jordan Picard to score the game-winning goal.
“I just knew we needed a goal, because we didn’t want to go to overtime with them,” McCloud said. “I got it right off the draw and just hit it in, I didn’t even see it, but it went right in.”
McCloud was excited about the goal, because it’s usually Blue that scores the big goals for Bottineau.
“It was really exciting, because I don’t score goals all that much, usually it’s Ashley (Blue),” McCloud said.
As for beating Bismarck, that too was a notch in the belt for Bottineau, and solidified their stance atop the standings.
“It feels really good because they are probably one of the top teams in the state, and the one that we won goes for our record,” McCloud said. “We’re number one in the west right now.”
However, Bottineau did get their first taste of defeat on the season, albeit in a game that didn’t count for record.
Bottineau played Bismarck later in the day on Dec. 22 in an exhibition game.
In the game the teams traded blows, each scoring and swinging the momentum with each score.
Bismarck struck first early in the opening frame as Carlson scored for the third time on the day.
However, Bottineau bounced back and took the lead as Blue tied the game and then Severson scored to put Bottineau ahead. Victoria Gullett and Bahr assisted in the go-ahead goal.
Bismarck then took over scoring the lone second period goal and opened the third period with two more goals to take a 4-2 lead.
Bottineau made a valiant comeback effort once again as McCloud again put in a third-period goal on the power play with 8:40 left. Blue and Bahr each had helpers on the play.
However, Bottineau was unable to to score again and they fell 4-3 in the exhibition match.
Ceglowski finished with 24 saves in 28 opportunities. Bismarck out shot Bottineau 28-26.
However, Bottineau still sits at 8-0 on the season, since the exhibition loss didn’t count toward their record.
Bottineau hits the ice again this weekend as they host Glasgow in a pair of West division games. The first game will be at 12:15 p.m. on Jan. 5, while the second game will go on later at 3:45 p.m. the same day.