Bantams advance to state championships

By Janice Nelson
Contributor

Two weeks ago the Lake of the Woods Bantam B team finished the MN Hockey District 16 tournament as the #1 seed going into the Region tournament in Coleraine, MN. On Friday March 4th the Bears team faced off against the #3 seed the Eveleth Golden Bears.
The first period brought the LW team out scoring at the 9:59 mark Nick Boisvert took the pass from Tre Davidson and Zeke Beckel and put away that first goal. Less than a minute later the Golden Bears answered back with a break away and got a goal by the LW Bears young goalie Cody Nelson(Cody is 12 years old and a 2nd year PeeWee that moved up to fill void of no Bantam age goalie in the LW hockey program). The LW team worked hard to battle back that first period and got two more goals by the Golden Bears the second goal from Kalvin Krause with assists going to Blake Olson and Zeke Beckel and the 3rd goal for the Bears team from Dominic Krause with assists to Zeke and Kalvin, giving Zeke a playmaker for the game. The second period was the cincher for the LW teams with more two goals the first from Blake Olson with assists from Kalvin and Dominic, giving Kalvin a playmaker. The second goal in period two went to Robbie Schulz, defensemen - unassisted with 18 seconds left in the period. This took LW into the third period in good shape with the score 5 to 1.
In the third period there were 4 more goals scored, 2 each team. Giving the LW Bears the win over Eveleth Golden Bears 7 to 3. In the game there was 1 penalty set by LW and 2 set by Eveleth. Golden Bears net minder, Grant Kokal made 18 saves and LW goalie made 13 saves.
This win set the LW Bears up to play the Moorhead Orange team. An interesting thing about this game was that the Moorhead Orange team brought in a goalie from the Detroit Lakes team, as they claimed their rostered goalie was injured. The Detroit Lakes goalie had 31 saves in the game and the LW goalie had 10. This game had lots of penalty minutes, each team took to the “sin bin” five times each.
The first goal of the game went to the cousins of the team Dominic got the pass from Kalvin. The second period had no goals scored for either team, with the game score 1 to 0 the Bears on top. The third period was a little different story. The Bears worked hard to get a goal past the Detroit Lakes goalie, Blake Olson got one with assists going to Dominic Krause and Jaden Gustafson. The Moorhead team wasn’t going to let that happen and they fought back with a goal 2 minutes later Andrew Halbakken found the back of the Bears net with the assist going to Ben Halgrimson. The score was then 2 to 1, with the Bears still on top. The Bears got two more goals past the Moorhead team. Kenton Peters with assists from Rob Schulz and Blake Olson and then Blake Olson on a breakaway with the pass coming out of the zone from Rob Schulz. The Bears win again 4 to 1.
On Sunday March 6th @ 10:45am the Bantam B North Region Championship game took place at the Hodgins-Berardo Arena in Coleraine, MN. The Lake of the Woods Bears vs. the Moorhead Black team. There are a total of 9 goals in this game, three each period. A tripping call against the Moorhead team gave the Bears a chance for the power play goal and it worked, Dominic Krause got the first goal of game with assists going to Blake Olson and Kalvin Krause. Moorhead answered back with a goal from Nick Paulson assists to Landon Schmidt and Jake Weidrich. LW ended the period with another goal from Kalvin Krause assists from Olson and Beckel. Going into the second period the score was 2 to 1 the LW team on top. Period two started with a goal 29 seconds in Kenton Peters sent in a slap shot, passes from Olson and K.Krause. It took Moorhead 10 minutes to get one back, Tom Greene caught the pass from Jake Weidrich. An interference penalty for the Moorhead team gave the Bears the opportunity for another power play goal. After an icing Cody Nelson, Bears Goalie passed the puck up to Kalvin who turned it over to Defensemen Gustafson and then to Zeke Beckel who got the last goal of the 2nd period. Making the score 4 to 2 with the Bears in lead. The Bears take 3 penalties in the 3rd period. Resulting in one Power goal for the Moorhead black team Adam Bakken gets the goal with the assist to Tom Greene. The Bears get a power play goal also Blake Olson from Kalvin and Rob. Moorhead gets the other goal this period Jayden Masseth from Tom Greene and Nick Paulson. With the game ending in another Bears victory 5 to 4.
The Lake of the Woods Bantam team will advance on to the Bantam B State tournament in Marshall, MN. The Bears are the #1 seeded team from the North Region and Eveleth went on to beat out the Moorhead Orange team and they will also attend the state tournament as the #2 seed from the North Region. The Bears face the #2 South Seed Woodbury Royals Friday March 18th @ 5:15pm at the Lyon Country Ice Arena. The Lake of the Woods Bantam Team is coached by Don Krause, Darren Olson and Steve Bitter and sponsored by the Americinn of Baudette.