歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI 鈥� Saturday鈥檚 matinee was all tied up when the Lumberjacks were penalized with a five-minute major.

Roughly halfway through the second period, Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 boys hockey team senior Noah Mannausau was whistled for a boarding penalty, offering Roseau a chance to capture its first lead of the night.

For nearly two minutes, the Jacks fended off the man advantage, then came some relief for BHS in the form of a tripping penalty on the Rams鈥� Taden Peterson, temporarily wiping off the power play for some 4-on-4 action.

The Lumberjacks made Roseau pay.

Less than a minute after Peterson was sent to the box, Bemidji senior Joey Fankhanel corralled the puck in the neutral zone and sniped a shot past Roseau goaltender Abram Hinson to hand his team a 2-1 lead with less than six minutes to go in the period.

The Lumberjacks went on to kill off what remained of Roseau鈥檚 man advantage, coming out of the five-minute major with a lead.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

鈥淗aving to kill off a five-minute penalty is never easy,鈥� head coach Ben Kinne said. 鈥淭he kids did a great job with staying detailed and having good sticks.鈥�

Bemidji took its one-goal lead into the second intermission, and just 1:09 into the third period, it doubled the lead.

After a faceoff win in the offensive zone, the Jacks sent the puck toward the crease. Senior Conor Stodgell crashed the net, chopped at the puck just beyond Hinson and in to extend the Lumberjacks鈥� lead to 3-1.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

鈥淭hat was massive,鈥� Kinne said. 鈥淎nytime you can get faceoff goals, it helps your team. You get it to the net right away. And it was a hard-working goal, that was the best part about it. It wasn鈥檛 pretty, not exactly how you draw it up, but we just got it to the blue paint and guys got their stick on it.鈥�

Bemidji killed off a pair of penalties down the stretch to secure a 3-1 win.

鈥淚t was good (to) get another win because we lost last game (against Moorhead),鈥� Fankhanel said. 鈥淗opefully we can stack wins now, going forward. 鈥� We had a 12-day break before this game, so we just had to kind of knock the rust off right away, battle.鈥�

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

It didn鈥檛 take the Lumberjacks long to shake off that rust in the first period and establish a strong presence from its special teams units. Just over halfway through the opening frame, Roseau鈥檚 Cade Ginther was sent to the box for a crosscheck.

Twenty-seven seconds later, BHS senior Briggs Knott ripped a shot around the right faceoff circle, sending it past Hinson for a 1-0 lead.

鈥淪coring on a power play this time of the year, the second half of the year, it鈥檚 critical for us to be able to score in those situations,鈥� Kinne said. 鈥淎nd then, obviously, deny on the other side of it. It was a great effort on special teams.鈥�

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

鈥淲e had good kills, we had a power-play goal,鈥� Fankhanel said. 鈥淲e just practice it a lot during the week, pays off when the games come.鈥�

Beyond the power play goal, Bemidji stifled the Rams鈥� offense in the first period, mucking up lanes and knocking away the puck to wipe out most scoring opportunities before the puck was launched.

鈥淚 thought really in the first period, we contested really well and blocked some shots with our stick,鈥� Kinne said. 鈥淭hen Tate (Metcalf) came up big when we needed him with a couple nice stops.鈥�

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

Save for a few lapses, it was a solid defensive effort from the Lumberjacks through all three periods.

鈥淲e work a lot on our back checks and having good sticks coming back,鈥� Kinne said. 鈥淚 thought we were a little loose at times but again, kids are going to make plays, and that鈥檚 part of the game.鈥�

Between the pipes, Metcalf faced 19 shots by the end of the game, stopping 18 of them.

Roseau鈥檚 lone goal came in the opening minutes of the second period, when Jacksyn Loken scored to even things up, 1-1.

鈥�(Metcalf) was awesome,鈥� Fankhanel said. 鈥淥ne goal against, can鈥檛 complain.鈥�

With three different goal-scorers on the day, the Lumberjacks have continued to illustrate their ability to produce points across the lineup.

鈥淎nytime you can get some depth scoring or scoring throughout, is really massive for any high school team,鈥� Kinne said. 鈥淚t shows that we trust pretty much anybody to go out there, to get out there and make the plays and execute and that鈥檚 what we saw tonight.鈥�

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer

Bemidji 3, Roseau 1

RHS 0 1 0 鈥� 1

BHS 1 1 1 鈥� 3

First period 鈥� BHS GOAL: Knott (Fankhanel, Mattfield) PPG 8:52.

Second period 鈥� RHS GOAL: Loken (Wittrock, Ginther) 2:11; BHS GOAL: Fankhanel (unassisted) 11:10.

Third period 鈥� BHS GOAL: Stodgell (O鈥橪eary) 1:09.

Saves 鈥� Metcalf (BHS) 18; Hinson (RHS) 31.

TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer