Sports

Braves open season with loss to Firebirds

By Bottineau Courant Staff

11/26/2013

The Bottineau-Rugby (BR) hockey season began early with a home tilt against the Devils Lake Firebirds last Tuesday evening in Bottineau.

The Firebirds swallowed up the Braves in a 7-3 victory that included a 37-30 advantage in shots on goal.

BR fell behind early as the Firebirds scored twice in the opening frame as they challenged Braves senior netminder Riley Monson with 15 shots on goal.

The Braves crawled back into the game in the second period as senior Harrison Aide first scored and then dished on two goals early in the period. On his goal assists were credited to Noah Grant and Luke Amsbaugh, both juniors.

A little more than two minutes later Aide found Amsbaugh on a short-handed break away at 12:22 to draw the Braves within one goal, 3-2.

BR then tied the game on a Cody Bedlion goal midway through the second period. Aide and Amsbaugh had helpers on the goal.

However, from there on out the Firebirds took over, despite playing through a barrage of penalties, including a bench penalty at 6:22 of the second period. In total the Firebirds were penalized 12 times.

The Firebirds scored shortly after that on a short-handed goal from Cole Thompson. Thompson had a pair of goals and an assist in the win.

Devils Lake wasn’t done yet in the second as they scored notched short-handed marker with 1:47 to play.  

Matthew Brien scored twice in the final frame to ice the game for Devils Lake.

The Firebirds goaltender Holden Kurtz had 27 saves in the winning effort.

Monson finished with 30 saves for BR.

Bottineau finished 1-for-9 on the power play including a missed opportunity on a 5-on-3 advantage late in the second period.

The Braves (0-1) will play their first West Region opponent in Bottineau at 3 p.m. on Nov. 30 as they host Dickinson.

The Midgets are currently 2-0 after a 5-2 win over Williston last Tuesday and a 7-2 win over Richland on Thursday.