Boys high school hockey team ends season in quarter finals

By Penny Mio
Baudette Region

The Bears started the Section 8A hockey tournament with a shutout and then went on to the quarterfinal game against Bemidji.

Bagley
In the first round of the Section 8A tournaments, the Bears faced Bagley/Fosston/Clearbrook-Gonvick. The game was played in Baudette Tuesday, Feb. 24.
The Flyers had been ranked 11th in the section and the Bears in 6th.
The Bears ended the season for the Flyers with a 9-0 shutout.
Cody Hasbargen got the scoring rolling for the Bears with 56 seconds elapsed in the second period. The Bears were on the power play with one of the Flyers in the penalty box for tripping. Shae Pepera and JonCarlo Westerlund got the assists.
About a minute and a half later Wade Holen scored with help from Kyle Poolman.
Travis Mollberg, Poolman and Justin Peters teamed up for the Bears’ third goal and the trio of Pepera-Hasbargen-Westerlund got the fourth goal.
Now just more than eight minutes into the second period, Hasbargen put in the second of his two goals, this time with help from Adam Nelson.
Braedon Beller finished off the second period scoring with an unassisted goal at 11:24.
The third period opened with a power play goal put in by Westerlund, Hasbargen and Jake Pelach while a Bagley player sat out for interference.
Josh Smart scored mid-period with assists going to Poolman and Westerlund.
Peters and Mollberg put together the last goal of the night, the Bears’ ninth goal, at 13:28.
Lake of the Woods had only two penalties in the game, both for interference. Bagley players got called seven times for penalties and the Bears used two of those opportunities for points on the scoreboard.
The Bears peppered the Flyers’ goaltender Gavin Ross with 52 shots in the game. They put up 17, 26 and 9 shots by period.
Bears’ goalie Alex Lyon made five, eight and one saves by period.

Bemidji
The win put the Bears in the quarterfinal round, against third-ranked Bemidji Lumberjacks. They played Friday, Feb. 27 in Warroad.
Bemidji’s Luke Burns was the first to score, at 3:25 into the game, but the Bears were not ready to hand it over to the Lumberjacks. Shae Pepera scored only 25 seconds later to tie it up 1-1. Hasbargen and Westerlund assisted.
Pepera got the second goal for the Bears, this time with help from Chad Reed and Westerlund. That was the lone goal in the second period, and the Bears led 2-1 going into the third.
With 11:22 elapsed in the third, the Lumberjacks slipped one past Bears goalie Lyon for the tie at 2-2. It looked like the game would go into overtime as the seconds ticked off the clock, but with 46 seconds remaining the Lumberjacks scored and advanced to the semi-final round.
The loss for the Bears ended a season that started out with a very tough schedule, and ended with a strong and aggressive team.

Game Summaries

Bears 9
Flyers 0
Second period – 1, LW, Cody Hasbargen (Shea Pepera, JonCarlo Westerlund), :56 (pp). 2, LW, Wade Holen (Kyle Poolman), 2:22. 3, LW, Travis Mollberg (Poolman, Justin Peters), 5:11. 4, LW, Pepera (Hasbargen, Westerlund), 6:20. 5, LW, Hasbargen (Adam Nelson), 8:25. 6, LW, Braedon Beller, 11:24.
Third period – 7, LW, Westerlund (Hasbargen, Jake Pelach), 2:43 (pp). 8, LW, Josh Smart (Poolman, Westerlund), 6:15. 9, LW, Peters (Mollberg), 13:28.
Goalies – LW, Alex Lyon, 14 shots, 14 saves. Bagley/Fosston/Clearbrook-Gonvick, Gavin Ross, 52 shots, 43 saves.

Bears 2
Lumberjacks 3
First period – 1, Bemidji, Luke Burns (Lucas Phillips, Krios Maggert), 3:25. 2, LW, Shae Pepera (Cody Hasbargen, JonCarlo Westerlund), 3:50.
Second period – 3, LW, Pepera (Chad Reed, Westerlund) 6:19.
Third period – 4, Bemidji, Jesse Nemgar (Jared Berquist) 11:22. 5, Bemidji, Max Hazelton (Rylee Curb) 16:14.
Goalies – LW, Alex Lyon, 39 shots, 36 saves. Bemidji, Derek Dudgeon 23 shots, 21 saves.