Sports

DCB hockey team swept by Minnesota opponents

By Tyler Ohmann

11/12/2013

Dakota College at Bottineau’s (DCB) first road trip didn’t go quite according to plan.

First the Jacks’ bus blew a fuse and they arrived late for their first game against St. Johns University (SJU) JV.

Then the Jacks fell behind 3-0 to the Johnnies, which led to a 5-3 loss.

Finally the Jacks were swept on the weekend trip to St. Cloud, Minn. as they fell once again to the Johnnies 7-1 on Friday and lost to Concordia-Wisconsin JV 4-2 on Saturday.

After the Jacks’ arrival to play at Herb Brooks Arena and the National Hockey Center at St. Cloud State University, they had to take on the Johnnies.

“Unfortunately we got to the arena a little late and got off to a slow start,” Jacks head coach Travis Rybchinksi stated. “We spotted the Johnnies three goals in about three minutes in the first. We battled hard to get back into the game but it was too little too late.”

DCB started off game two against the Johnnies much better on Friday as the two teams were tied through one period.

However, things went south from there, as the Jacks allowed five second-period goals.

“We started off with a really good 20 minutes against the Johnnies and were tied after one period of play,” Rybchinski stated. “Then we hit the self-destruct button and we gave up five goals in the second period.”

The game ended with a 7-1 victory for the Johnnies, who earned the sweep on the Jacks.

Consistency for 60 minutes is something that Rybchinski noticed is not happening for DCB this season.

“It should be much better than that but we are not consistent enough and have not played a complete game,” Rybchinski stated. “Sometimes our defense is playing well and our goalies struggle, or vice versa, maybe the forwards are on their own page but the defense is on a different page.”

“We need to get everyone on the same page for 60 minutes in a game,” Rybchinski added.

The Jacks’ final tilt was against the Falcons of Concordia-Wisconsin JV.

For the second time on the trip the Jacks got off to a slow start as the Falcons scored three goals in the opening frame.

DCB played markedly better in the final two periods, but could only cut the lead to one.

An empty net goal late in the third made it a 4-2 victory for the Falcons.

The trio of losses dropped the Jacks to 0-6-1 on the season.
Rybchinski believes that there are flashes of good play, but that the Jacks tend to lose their focus, which leads to mistakes.

“There are signs of it but then something happens and we lose focus,” Rybchinski stated. “We need to stay focused and play a complete game. We had some positives and some negatives on the weekend but I hope that we learn from all and can become more of a team as a result of some road bonding.”

“The potential is there now we have to play harder, play smarter and play together,” Rybchinski added.

Up next for the Jacks is a home series with Finlandia JV.
The Jacks and the Lions will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Lumberdome.

The Lions are currently 3-0 on the season as they have beaten Marian University JV once, and St. Norbert College JV twice.

DCB beat Finlandia JV in three of their four games last season. They outscored the Lions 15-4.