Sports

Battle of Braves goes to BR

By Bottineau Courant Staff

02/04/2014

The Bottineau-Rugby (BR) Braves remained close to the top teams as they won a pair of games against West Region foe Mandan this past week.

On Tuesday BR topped Mandan 6-2 in Mandan for their eighth region victory of the season.

Then last Friday the two Braves squads met in Rugby as BR came away victorious, this time 9-2.

BR did lose one game this past week though, as they fell 5-3 at the hands of East Region’s West Fargo Packers.

First, on Tuesday BR gained three points in the standings in a 6-2 victory over Mandan.

Senior Harrison Aide, the state’s top scorer, notched a pair of first period goals to put BR up 2-0. Luke Amsbaugh assisted on both goals, while Noah Grant also picked up an assist.

Colton Murphy drew Mandan within one goal in the second period, but Luke Amsbaugh netted the eventual game-winner at 15:21. Cody Bedlion earned an assist on the play.

Garret Murphy would score a power play goal to draw Mandan back within one goal, but that’s as close as they would get.

Aide struck again in the third period, as he notched a power play goal with the help of Amsbaugh, who earned his third assist of the night.

Sophomore Austyn Lorenz would score a pair of third-period goals to make BR’s lead swell.

Bedlion assisted on both goals.

Riley Monson stopped 32-of-34 shots for BR in the win, as BR out shot Mandan 40-34.

Four goals from Aide helped propel BR to another win against Mandan as the two Braves’ teams squared off in Rugby last Friday night.

BR led early again as Casey Tooke struck first with a goal at 6:02 of the first period. Bedlion and Lorenz assisted on the goal.

Later in the period Grant put BR up 2-0 by taking passes from Aide and Amsbaugh and putting it in the back of the net.

BR went up 3-0 16 seconds into the second period as Amsbaugh notched his first goal of the game. Aide and Grant each notched assists on the goal.

Less than a minute later BR struck again. This time it was Aide earning the first of four goals in the game to push the BR lead to 4-0. Nigel Hageness and Amsbaugh had assists on the play.

After Mandan finally found the back of the net, Aide added an unassisted goal to put BR up 5-1.

Grant used passes from Aide and Amsbaugh to score his second goal of the night at 9:37.

Amsbaugh scored his second goal of the contest, and 40th of the year thanks to a pass from Andrew Hill.

Aide added two more second period goals to give BR their final tally of nine goals. Amsbaugh picked up the lone assist on both goals.

Monson finished with 27 saves in the win.

The wins gave BR nine wins and 28 points in the region through 12 games. They have three more region games this week before the West Region Tournament in Minot begins on Feb. 13.

The BR success appeared to continue as they struck first blood last Saturday in a non-region game in West Fargo. Aide scored his eighth goal of the week and 44th of the year in the first period.

Amsbaugh and Grant notched helpers on the play.

Only 39 seconds into the second period BR went up 2-0 on an Amsbaugh goal. Hill earned the assist.

Exactly 11 seconds later West Fargo answered with a goal of their own.

Aide would add another goal thanks to passes from Amsbaugh and Grant to put BR up 3-1.

However, that was as much as the high-powered BR offense would score.

The Packers would score twice in the rest of the second and twice more in the third to earn the win. One goal came on the power play, and another came shorthanded.

BR was out shot 55-26 in the contest, as Monson finished with 49 saves.

The Braves will travel to Minot to take on the Magicians on Thursday night this week, but will return home for another important contest against Bismarck Century on Friday night.

Currently BR is two points behind Minot and five points behind Century, and are in fourth place.

A game in Jamestown on Saturday could determine who gets the fourth seed, as the Blue Jays are currently six points behind the Braves.