DHS comeback falls short

• Megan Weidner

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Dickinson sophomore Megan Weidner, left, winds up to take a shot as Richland’s (Mont.) Ashley Bjork, right, reaches in to break it up on Tuesday during a girls hockey game at the Dickinson Recreation Center.

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The Dickinson High girls hockey team turned up the heat in the final two minutes.

However, it wasn’t enough to overcome an early lead the Richland Rangers had established.

The Rangers, a U-19 team from Sidney, Mont., held off the resurgent Midgets 5-4 in a nonconference game on Tuesday at the Dickinson Recreation Center.

“McKenna (Love) really turned it up,” Dickinson head coach Lauren Hansen said. “She came out and worked hard for us and really turned it around for us in that last period. She really turned the momentum for us.”

Dickinson netted three goals in the final 5 minutes, including two in a span of 42 seconds. Love, a junior forward, scored a pair of goals in the third period. Her first was unassisted and Kelsey Calhoun came on for the assist on the second goal.

“After the first few goals, we just started to get that motivation,” Love said. “We just kept working hard and wanted to score more goals.

“I’m pleased with our effort all around. We usually have a give-up period, but we played all three periods.”

The Rangers’ biggest upside was their ability to respond.

When the Midgets scored a goal, Richland returned the favor.

Richland head coach Damon McLaughlin said there were a couple jitters with it being the team’s first game of the season.

“We put in a couple new systems this year, so that was our main focus,” he said. “We didn’t care if we won or lost the game. We wanted to run our systems. It was our first game and it seemed like the girls were timid.”

Malorie Cvancara scored two goals in the third period, while Erin Harris supplied a pair of assists for Richland.

Harris scored an unassisted goal in the first period. The Rangers had the slight edge on shots on goal with 21 to 20.

“Erin is a good skater for us,” McLaughlin said. “She had some good passes from the corner, which Malorie was able to put away for a couple goals.”

Calhoun, a freshman forward, scored the Midgets’ opening goal. Rachel Lantz, a sophomore forward, dropped in the final goal of the game on an assist from Kira Zastoupil and Kayla Wallace.

Love hopes Dickinson can respond to the loss with the same intensity the team had in the final period when it travels to West Fargo for a North Dakota state standings game at 6:30 p.m. MST Friday.

“It gives the girls a taste of being right there,” Hansen said. “It’s almost better than winning, because it makes you work harder for the next one.”

“I definitely think if we work hard in practice we can keep it up,” Love added.

Richland 2 1 2 – 5

Dickinson 0 1 3 – 4

FIRST PERIOD: 1, R, Abby Balcer (unassisted) 7:52. 2, R, Erin Harris (unassisted) 4:21.

SECOND PERIOD: 3, R, Jade Brunsvold (Chelsey Metcalf) 8:21. 4, D, Kelsey Calhoun (unassisted) 5:46.

THIRD PERIOD: 5, R, Malorie Cvancara (Harris, Balcer) 12:30. 6, D, McKenna Love (unassisted) 5:22. 7, Cvancara (Harris) 4:40. 8, D, Love (Calhoun) 1:43. 9, D, Rachel Lantz (Kayla Wallace, Kira Zastoupil) 1:01.

SAVES: R, Micala Morehouse 5-8-7–20. D, Paige Fahlstrom 5-7-9–21.

Tags: high school hockey, dickinson midgets, sports, hockey