Bantam B’s bring home silver while the A’s qualify for state

Ken Johnston
Editor

The Lake of the Woods Bantam B team of Rainy River and Baudette came home with silver around their necks Sunday after losing in the finals at the Regional Championships in Duluth.
Coach Glen Armstrong said that the team played well but just didn’t have any gumption left by the time the finals rolled around.
Friday the team played Duluth East and outshot them 37-17. However a tough netminder for Duluth kept LoW from scoring. Duluth on the other hand managed to cash in on three of their shots to win 3-0.
Rebounding on Saturday LoW hammered another Duluth team 9-3.
That evening LoW faced faced Detroit Lakes who were favoured to win their pool. However in a tight game that saw D.L. pull their goalie in the dying minutes of play and LoW lose a man to a penalty, LoW managed to win 4-3. That gave LoW the top spot in their pool and a berth into the gold medal round.
Fergus Falls was the top team in the other pool of six. Armstrong said that the team just seemed to run out of steam for this game and they lost 8-0. However, Armstrong was happy with the silver medal finish noting that the team played well all season.
Despite their second place finish there is no state tournament for B teams.
. . .
The Lake of the Woods Bantam A team of Rainy River and Baudette will advance to the state tournament later this month after a stellar weekend in Brainerd at the Regional Championships last weekend.
In their first game they lost a close one, 3-2, against International Falls. The Falls drew first blood scoring a goal at 6:40 in the first period. They then added to their lead with another one at 3:40 in the second.
However a determined LoW came back with a goal by Greg Beller of Rainy River (assisted by Aaron Gens and Jake Duick) at 4:27. Grant Slick of Baudette tied the game at 9:13. Garret Ravndalen picked up the assist.
In the third Int’l Falls broke the tie at 11:06 to win the game. LoW was outshot by the Falls 19-15.
In their next game LoW faced off against Hermantown in what would end up being a slaughter for LoW. Garrett Ravndalen scored at 3:52 in the first with Grant Slick picking up the assist. LoW would add two more goals before the end of the first with Mitch Gouliquer of Bergland and Greg Beller each finding the whole between the pipes. Assists were earned by Beller and Duick and Goliquer and Duick respectively.
In the second period Beller found his mark once again with Aaron Gens assisting at the 5:04 mark. Hermantown would answer back with its only goal of the game.
Then in the third Jake Duick scored two in a row to put LoW up 6-1. Mitch Goliquer and Garret Ravndalen would then ice the cake with a goal each to leave Hermantown in the dust 8-1. Picking up assists in the third were Aaron Gens (2), Greg Beller, Alex Reinert, Grant Slick and Jake Duick.
LoW outshot them 27-15.
On Saturday LoW played Alexandria and beat them 4-1. It was all LoW until the third with Aaron Gens, Grant Slick and Garrett Ravndalen scoring one each. Ravndalen picked up two assists and Alex Reinert and Grant Slick each had one.
In the third Alexandria picked up their lone goal of the game at 3:58. Then Greg Beller padded LoW’s lead with a goal assisted by Chris Slick.
LoW outshot them 30-17.
Sunday at Noon, LoW faced its arch rival from the west, Warroad. It was a hard fought game but in the end Warroad came out on top with a score of 6-3. Scoring for LoW was Jake Duick (2) and Garrett Ravndalen. Assist were earned by Duick, Reinert, Gens (2), Slick and Ravndalen.
Despite the loss LoW managed to outshoot them 29-23.
In their final game of the tournament LoW faced International Falls. The Falls scored the only goal of the first period at 11:26.
In the second Aaron Gens and Mitch Goliquer scored a goal each to put LoW on top 2-1. The Falls tied it up at 8:50, but Matt Ramiller of LoW scored again at 5:29. LoW assists were earned by Slick, Ravndalen, Reinert, Gouliquer and Beller.
In the third Reinert capped off the 4-2 win at 14:45. Slick picked up an assist.
Their 3-2 record was enough to get them into the State Tournament which is March 15-16th.