Sports

Stars earn another shutout

By Tyler Ohmann

01/07/2014

The Bottineau 19U girls hockey team extended their shutout streak to three this past Sunday as they hosted and shut out Wahpeton 12-0.

The Stars and Blades did battle at 10:30 a.m., on Sunday to reschedule the game they were supposed to play Saturday  morning.

Bottineau previously shut out Hazen 5-0 and Bismarck 1-0 in their current streak, and sit at 6-3-2 overall.

For Bottineau captain Karlee McCloud the rescheduling isn’t a big deal.

“Kind of, but not really,” McCloud said. “You’ve got to get used to it if you want to play hockey, because it happens a lot.”

On Sunday the rescheduled game certainly did not effect the home team Stars.

Bottineau kick-started their way to an early lead as defense Sonya Gilje scored an unassisted marker that would wind up being the game winner.

Then Hunter Bennie rattled off three straight goals to earn a first-period hat trick. Assists came from Paige Vad, Bailey Neubauer, Shelby Pedie and Madison Hill.

Pedie closed out the first-period scoring for Bottineau with a goal off of passes from Erin Severson and McCloud. That put the Stars up 5-0 after one.

McCloud believes that the rough start to begin the season (Bottineau was win less in their first four games) helped fuel the run they’ve been on.

“I think it really got us going,” McCloud said. “Last year we had Ashley Blue and those games really showed us that we’re going to have to work together this year, we can’t just count on a couple girls to do all the work.”

Bottineau added four more goals in the second period as Gilje got another pair and Megan Olson scored twice. Pedie earned an assist on one of the Gilje goals, and the other was unassisted.

Getting helpers on one of Olson’s goals were Pedie and Cheyenne Sturlaugson. The other of Olson’s goals was unassisted.

Vad scored to open the third period and put the Stars up 10-0. Hill earned another assist on the play.

Hill dished out another assist later in the period as she fed Bennie for a goal to put Bottineau up 11-0.

Pedie completed her strong day with her second goal and fifth point of the game to round out the scoring for the Stars in the 12-0 shut out. Olson and Severson each were credited with assists on the goal.

Bottineau out shot Wahpeton handily and Jacie Ceglowski earned her fourth shut out this season. She currently has a goal against average of 1.27 this season in 11 games.

The Stars’ schedule stiffens up once again as they play a pair of games in Glasgow, Mont. next Saturday.

McCloud thinks the win over Wahpeton will increase their chances in Glasgow.

“It’s nice to come off a game like this, because it boosts not just a couple girls confidence, but a lot because everyone gets to share the goals,” McCloud said. “Everyone will feel better against the tougher teams since we built up our confidence.”

Bottineau’s next home action will be on Saturday, Jan. 18 with a double header against Miles City.