Deuces: U19 Dawgs Finish Second In N.D

A week after taking second in the MAHA State Tournament, the U19 Ice Dawgs finished second again in the NDAHA State Tournament A2 bracket.

With 13 teams in the NDAHA league, the tournament was broken into two brackets, A1 and A2. Glasgow could have been in either one depending on the outcome of their first game of the tournament, on Friday at 9 a.m. against the Fargo Freeze – the winner entered the A1 bracket, the loser entered the A2 bracket.

Fargo wasted no time, scoring five goals in the first period to take a commanding 5-1 lead.

"We started out terrible flat," said Head Coach JR Rasmusan.

Glasgow bounced back in the second, swapping goals with the Freeze and then outscoring Fargo 1-0 in the third, but it wasn't enough, falling 6-3.

Alex Simensen, Sadie Sukut and Elizabeth Holom scored for Glasgow while Debra Griebel and Teagan Fossum tallied assists. Goalie Autumn Gault made 29 saves for the Dawgs.

"We just didn't come to play the game and got beat," said Rasmusan.

That left the Dawgs in the A2 bracket and a matchup with Williston on Friday.

The Dawgs and the Cougars exchanged a pair of goals in regulation and went into overtime, where a Simensen score gave Glasgow the 3-2 victory. Tamrah Pewitt and Holom also scored for Glasgow, with Griebel, Wesely, Sukut and Simensen assisting. Gault saved 12 in the win.

"Williston played very well," said Rasmusan. "It was not our best hockey . . . but it was a good game."

Glasgow then took on the Langdon Blades on Saturday morning. Glasgow and Langdon scored two goals each in the first period, Langdon outscored Glasgow 2-1 in the second and took a 6-4 lead with once a couple of minutes left in the game.

Rasmusan pulled his goalie to get an extra skater on the ice and was able to score a minute later to pull within one. They pulled their goalie again after the face off and it worked with 1.3 seconds to go, pulling Glasgow even and forcing overtime.

Glasgow had several chances to score in the first overtime to steal the victory but couldn't quite finish. Both teams were held scoreless before Langdon ultimately scored on a power play with five minutes to go in the second overtime.

"It was one of those deals. We had our chances. We could've, should've won and then they just got one by us," said Rasmusan.

Sukut scored twice, Griebel, Holom, Wesely and MaKenzie Wesen scored one each and Simensen, Griebel, Jaycee Wixson and Sage Sukut tallied assists.

Gault saved 36 shots in the loss.

Against Miles City later in the afternoon, the Dawgs couldn't find the back of the net. The Lady Generals' goalie saved 27 shots and kept the Dawgs off the board. Gault did the same for Glasgow, though, saving 15 shots.

It took all her skill to keep Miles City from scoring in the waning minutes with Glasgow down a skater due to penalty. As the seconds ticked off, Glasgow short-handed, Wesen blocked a pass off her pads, broke down the ice, got behind the defense and found the allusive back of the net for the game-winning goal with only eight seconds left on the clock.

"It was exciting as all heck. It was really cool," said Rasmusan.

The goal gave the Dawgs the momentum they needed as they put together their best effort of the tournament in the last game of the season against May/Port.

May/Port scored the lone goal in the first but Glasgow outscored them 6-2 the rest of the way, including four goals in the third, for the 6-3 victory.

"For some odd reason, it started to click. Every pass we made in the front, the girls caught – shoot, scored, shoot, scored," said Rasmusan.

With the win, the Dawgs took second in the bracket, behind Langdon.

The girls "busted their butt all weekend," said Rasmusan, who noted their year-long battle with injuries continued into the tournament.

"We battled through and got what we should have," he continued.

That's thanks in large part to the senior leadership from Debra Griebel and Elizabeth Holom, who both finished their last season with the Dawgs.

"They're both great kids. Both love to play hockey," said Rasmusan. "They'll be missed for sure."

Holom and Griebel leave behind a solid foundation for the years to come. Glasgow is on a four-year streak of playing in the MAHA State Championship and should only continue that success going forward, according to Rasmusan.

"We should have a real good nucleus coming back," he said. "I expect even more next year."