Bitter home finale: Dickinson musters just 8 shots on goal in shutout loss to Bismarck High

• Gannon Karsky

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Dickinson High sophomore Gannon Karsky, right, skates after the puck against Bismarck High juniors Quinn Irey, left, and Michael Matzke, middle, on Thursday night during a West Region boys hockey game at the Dickinson Recreation Center.

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After a promising 4-1 start to the season, the Dickinson boys hockey team has fallen on real tough times.

Since the hot start, the Midgets are 2-12 and the home portion of their season came to a disappointing close for six seniors on Thursday night.

Bismarck High used a three-goal second period, including a pair of Jared Spooner scores, en route to a 6-0 West Region win over Dickinson at the Dickinson Recreation Center.

“We started off the season top notch, second or third in the West Region,” Dickinson senior forward Austin Krank said. “This game did not live up to any of those expectations.”

Dickinson head coach Tom Folske said it has been frustrating and, at times, a little disappointing because he can see the team’s potential. On Thursday, they finished with just eight shots on goal.

“That group of young men in that locker room have a chance to do a lot of things Dickinson hockey’s never done before,” Folske said. “It’s frustrating because I see the potential and it’s disappointing that it’s slipping away from them.”

The six Midgets (6-12, 3-10 West) that set foot one last time at the Rec Center were Krank, Brendin Steiner, Jayden Mink, Jamison Gray, Hunter Jerome and Trevor Coates.

Spooner kicked off the scoring with 4 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first period. Christian Clausnitzer followed a minute and a half later with Bismarck’s second goal. Spooner later scored the second goal in the second period.

“He’s obviously one of the guys that we lean on to score,” Bismarck head coach Mike Peluso said. “I felt like all four of our lines played very solid hockey and that starts with your leaders. Guys like Jared definitely did that.”

The Demons (10-7, 9-3 West) tacked on three more insurance goals in the second and third periods. Folske said the Midgets finally got going in the third period when they limited Bismarck to three shots on goal.

“We played a good third period,” Folske said. “We weren’t ready to play when the game started and it took us two periods to get going.”

The line of Jerome, Dan Honcharenko and Gannon Karsky stood out in Folske’s mind throughout the game. It was Dickinson’s only line not to give up a goal.

Gray, a senior goaltender, made 37 saves while Bismarck Brett Malkmus stopped all eight shots he faced.

“That’s been kind of a sore spot in the early part of our season,” Peluso said. “I don’t think our goalies played that great and we tried to stress real hard it doesn’t matter how many shots you are facing. You have to be ready for each one of them.”

Dickinson looks to rebound when it travels to Hazen-Beulah at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Midgets defeated the North Stars 6-3 on Dec. 8. It was their last West Region win.

“Hopefully, we take what we need to work on and get better,” Krank said. “We are hoping to turn things around before WDA and state.”

Bismarck 2 3 1 – 6

Dickinson 0 0 0 – 0

FIRST PERIOD: 1, B, Jared Spooner 12:42. 2, B, Christian Clausnitzer (Ryan Gustafson) 11:17.

SECOND PERIOD: 3, B, Michael Matzke (Cullen Irey) 14:21. 4, B, Spooner (Jaxon Ford, Dalton Sanders) 12:42. 5, B, Cole Olson (Nick Goulet, Matzke) 7:46.

THIRD PERIOD: Goulet (Kale Ohlhauser, Cole Olson) 10:34.

SAVES: B, Brett Malkmus 1-4-3–8. D, Jamison Gray 18-16-3–37.

Tags: high school hockey, dickinson midgets, sports