Sports
Bottineau 19U drops first conference contest
Tyler Ohmann
01/29/2013
The Bottineau 19U hockey team had their toughest test yet, and wound up splitting in two close contests this past weekend.
Bottineau lost their first region conference game on Saturday in a 4-1 battle against undefeated Richland in Bottineau. On Sunday Bottineau bounced back with a 4-2 victory over a tough squad from Clearwater, Manitoba in Canada.
First in Saturday’s loss to the Rangers Bottineau had an uncharacteristic off night, in which coach Matt Johnson stated that they couldn’t seem to get the passing game going.
Bottineau fell behind early as Richland hopped out to 3-0 lead early in the second period.
Ashley Blue scored the lone goal, an unassisted marker, for Bottineau as they were out shot 48-25.
Jacie Ceglowski had a busy game and wound up stopping 44-of-48 Richland shots in the loss.
The loss knocked Bottineau out of the top spot in the conference. They are now in second place.
However, Bottineau bounced back on Sunday with a big 4-2 win in Canada.
Bottineau again fell behind in the second period as the Tigers scored twice in a three minute stretch.
However, Bottineau was able to bounce back as they got a goal from Ashley Blue late in the second and then tied the game up on an Erin Severson goal at 8:35 in the third period. Paige Vad assisted on the play.
Bottineau then hit the game-winner with 3:30 left as Blue scored an unassisted goal. Severson put the dagger in with less than 30 seconds left on an unassisted goal.
Johnson stated that the Clearwater team was likely the best team that Bottineau has faced all season and that the win gave the girls some confidence moving forward.
Johnson also said that Bottineau found their rhythm earlier in the game and had a very good outing.
Bottineau is now 13-2 overall and 12-1 in conference play.
Their next game is at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Bottineau as they host Crosby in a match that has playoff seeding implications.
They also play at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Langdon.