DETROIT LAKES 鈥� With less than five games left in the regular season, the Detroit Lakes boys hockey team looked to snap a four-game skid and make a late push as they welcomed Bemidji to Kent Freeman Arena on Tuesday.
The Lumberjacks used five minutes to build a comfortable lead to keep the Lakers out of reach as they picked up a 4-2 victory. Bemidji鈥檚 Joey Fankhanel netted a pair of goals within 30 seconds of each other.
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Detroit Lakes scored its two goals in the final frame, including a last-second short-handed goal from Easton Wahl. The goals came too little, too late for the Lakers as their losing streak increased to five games.
Detroit Lakes head coach Ben Noah thought his team came out to play from the opening faceoff. The Lumberjacks had a couple of bounces go their way to take the lead and the Lakers had to play catch up throughout the rest of the game.
鈥淭he ice was tilted in our favor the first 10-12 minutes of the game,鈥� Noah said. 鈥淥nce Bemidji settled in and they scored at the end of the first period, it sparked them. They tilted the ice on us in the second period, and it was hard to come back. I love the fact that our guys are starting to understand that it isn鈥檛 about the result of the scoreboard as much as it is about how we play the game and get ourselves prepared for a playoff run.鈥�
In the first period, both defenses did an excellent job limiting the puck possession for each team. Bemidji鈥檚 Benji O鈥橪eary was called for a penalty less than two minutes into the game, giving the Lakers an early opportunity. Detroit Lakes had its chances at the net but couldn鈥檛 capitalize.
With less than a minute left in the first period, Bemidji benefitted from a bounce off the back wall. The puck landed in front of the net, and Dominic Arndt scored to give the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead.
Fankhanel scored his first of the night to cap off a second-period power play, with the help of Noah Mannausau and Briggs Knott. Less than 30 seconds later, Fankhanel netted his second goal off of another assist from Mannausau and Eli Kringen to give Bemidji a 3-0 lead.
鈥淏emidji is extremely well-coached,鈥� Noah said. 鈥淭hey have a specific way they want to play, and they play it well. They are a really good skating team, and they want to play fast and get going on the attack, and they do it well. That gave us trouble. They have more depth than us ,and that was the story of the game.
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"At the end of the day, I鈥檓 very proud of the way that they competed. It鈥檚 hard to come to the rink every day and maintain that mindset to keep getting better when you haven鈥檛 been winning.鈥�
The Lumberjacks increased their lead to 4-0, thanks to a goal from Dawson Schoonover. Brady Nelson and Stonewall Gessner contributed with assists to help Bemidji grow its lead.
The Lakers scored their first goal of the game with 10:49 left as Easton Kennedy broke the goose egg off of an assist from Jace Fields.
The Lakers fought to the end as Wahl netted a short-handed goal with one second left on the clock. Bemidji outshot Detroit Lakes 35-19.
BEMIDJI 4 DETROIT LAKES 2
BHS 鈥� 1 2 1 鈥� 4
DL 鈥� 0 0 2 鈥� 2
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First period: BHS GOAL鈥� Arndt (O'Leary, Stodgell) 16:34.
Second period 鈥� BHS GOAL: Fankhanel (Mannausau, Knott) PPG, 2:41; BHS GOAL: Fankhanel (Mannausau, Kringen) 3:08
Third period: BHS GOAL: Schoonover (Nelson, Welle) 4:55; DL GOAL: Kennedy (Fields) 6:1; DL GOAL: Wahl (Fields) SHG, 16:59.
Saves 鈥� Metcalf (BHS) 15; Lindberg 31.
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