Bantams lose two close ones at State

Submitted by
Janice Nelson

The Lake of the Woods Bantam Bears B team earned the right to participate in the Minnesota Hockey State Bantam B Tournament in Marshall, MN.
The tournament was held March 18-20, 2011.
The Bears entered the tournament as the #1 seed from the North Region and Eveleth also attended the tournament as the #2 seed from the North Region.
Friday March 18th at 5:15pm the Bears Woods team took on the Woodbury Royals. The Royals notched the first goal at the 24 second mark. This goal was the wake up call for the Bears teams, they got down to the business of hockey and for the rest of the 1st period and the whole second period there was not another goal scored by either team.
The 3rd period had the Bears team working hard to get something past the Woodbury goalie. Rob Schulz was able to get that done with a lone shot for an unassisted goal.
26 seconds later the Woodbury team got another goal giving Woodbury the lead again 2-1 against the Bears.
The Royals then widened their lead with a third goal before the Bears pulled their goalie at the end and worked very hard for another goal, even getting some help from the referres with a penalty against Woodbury giving the Bears a 6 on 4 advantage and the Bears fed the puck out to defense Kenton Peters and he was able to get a shot off and make the 2nd goal for the Bears teams. Unfortunetly there was not enough time left for the Bears to get in another goal, so they fell to Woodbury 3-2. There were 15 saves on the net for LW Nelson and 11 saves on net for Woodbury.
This loss set the Bears up to play on Saturday March 19th at 2:00pm vs Chisago Lakes.
Two minutes into the game Kenton Peters got the pass from Blake Olson and put a slap shot in for the Bears giving them the first and only goal of the 1st period.
Penalties hurt and helped the Bears in the 2nd period of this game. Hurt by leaving chances for Chisago Lakes to score and they did that - scoring the next two goals giving Chisago Lakes the lead 2 to 1. Then helped the Krause boys were able to get a power play goal at the 5:43 mark.
Sending the the Bears into the 3rd period all tied up. The Bears worked hard but the Chisago Lakes team kept the shots on net coming.
Nelson was able to keep out 10 shots on net in the 3rd period - for a game total of 28 Saves On Goal. At the 2:47 the Chisago Lakes team got one by Nelson giving them the lead and eventually the game win with a 3 to 2 final score. The Chisago Lakes goalie - Jake Dubose had 6 shots on goal during the game.
The Bantam team would like to thank all that came out to the VFW to support them on their trip to state. We were able to purchase warm-up suites for the players and coaches. We were able to buy two team dinners while at the tournament in Marshall and we were able to give each Bantam family enough money to help cover motel expenses. So again a HUGE thank you for your support.