Sports

Braves win in front of big home crowd

By Tyler Ohmann

01/28/2014

Two big time games for the Bottineau-Rugby (BR) Braves ended in two entirely different outcomes against West Region opponents this past week.

First, last Monday the Braves came away with a huge 9-6 win over the Minot Magicians in front of a packed crowd at the Bottineau Community Arena. Then in Bismarck last Saturday the Braves were on the receiving end of a 4-3 overtime loss to Bismarck Century.

In Monday’s win it was the Braves offense, especially their special teams that earned them a win over their rivals.

BR hopped out to a lead early with three power play goals in the first period.

The first came from senior Andrew Hill who knocked a rebound past Minot goalie Breydan Effertz.

Noah Grant and Harrison Aide were credited with assists.
After Aide scored his first of four goals on the night and the Magicians pulled to within one, the Braves power play struck again with 1:28 remaining. Luke Amsbaugh netted the goal with Aide and Hill assisting.

Aide struck again before the period ended with another power play marker. This one came unassisted.

Early in the second the power play scored once more as Hill found the back of the net for the second time on the night. Again it was Aide and Grant earning helpers.

Minot scored once again to make it 5-2, but the Braves weren’t done by any means.

Aide notched another power play goal at 8:26 to give BR a 6-2 lead. Again he went in unassisted.

Amsbaugh scored shorthanded at 4:49 to extend the lead to five goals. Aide earned his fourth assist of the game on the play.

Taran Albright swung the momentum toward the Magicians late in the second to give them some hope. They used it to start the third period and drew to within two goals on a Matt Flom goal.

However, the Braves were not to be outdone as Aide notched his fourth goal of the night at 7:47. Senior Nigel Hageness assisted on the play. The goal marked the second straight year that Aide scored four goals against Minot in Bottineau, as he notched the same feat last season in a 5-4 victory.

After another Minot goal later in the third, Amsbaugh returned the lead to three goals to earn his hat trick with 43 seconds left. Grant earned his fourth assist of the game on the play.

For Amsbaugh it was all fun and games to be able to score so much against Minot.

“It was a blast, scoring that many goals was fun,” Amsbaugh said. “We always have good battles with Minot here.”

A big help to the Braves was the crowd, who chanted, and rattled the boards whenever something good happened for their team.

“Our crowd is great,” Amsbaugh said. “Having them shake the boards and yell as loud as they can.”

Amsbaugh hoped the win would give them a push as they make an attempt to gain a higher seed when the playoffs begin on Feb. 12.

“It gives us a lot of momentum, and hopefully we just keep building on it,” Amsbaugh said.

That momentum appeared to be in full stride early on in Saturday’s game against the Patriots.

BR’s power play struck early as Aide scored his 36th goal of the season in the first period with the man advantage. Amsabugh and Grant earned assists on the play that put the Braves up 1-0.

The score stayed there until Jacob Huber netted a goal for Bismarck Century early in the second period.

The Braves took the lead back with Amsbaugh’s 36th goal of the year just 15 seconds later. Aide and Grant earned helpers on the play.

Cole Foss would again even the score 3:55 into the second period.
However, BR would take the lead once more before the period ended on a Hill goal. Aide and Grant were up to their usual ways as they assisted on the goal.

The score would remain 3-2 BR until 7:16 into the final frame when Tristan Stewart tied the score, which is how regulation would end.

Just 1:16 into the extra period Keaton Leininger scored his 23rd and perhaps most important goal of the season to give the Patriots the win and three points for the standings.

The Braves were outshot 55-24 in the contest, as senior Riley Monson stopped 51 shots in a strong effort between the pipes.

The loss dropped the Braves into fourth place in the West Region at 7-3. They are 10-5 overall, and have 22 points, five points behind both Bismarck Century and Minot.

The two teams meet again on Feb. 7 in Bottineau in a game that could determine seeding for the playoffs.

First though, BR plays at Mandan at 7:30 p.m. in Rugby on Friday.

The Braves also played in Mandan last night, but scores and stats were unavailable by press time.