GRAND FORKS -- The Grand Forks Red River boys hockey team finished last season with the dubious distinction of being the only group in program history not to make the North Dakota state tournament.
Late Saturday night, Roughriders coach Bill Chase used two fitting words after this year's North Dakota state championship game.
Vengeance. Redemption.
Red River vaporized last season's disappointing memories behind a short-handed goal from Casey Fugleberg and a dominant defensive effort in the third period as the Roughriders beat Grafton-Park River 3-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
"It's all character," Chase said. "These kids read the paper. They watch TV. They didn't like what happened last year. They weren't happy about it. We made a goal all year that we would not be denied."
ADVERTISEMENT
And the Riders weren't. In fact, Red River put an emphatic stamp on the win by not allowing a single shot on goal in the final period.
"Obviously last year helped us," Fugleberg said. "It hurts to be the only team at Red River not to make the state tournament. We came out here (Saturday) and wanted to make everyone that's ever played Red River hockey or supported Red River hockey proud."
The Riders did that by not giving the Spoilers a sniff of comeback hope.
"We wanted to go out with a bang," Chase said. "We wanted to treat the third period like it was 0-0. We didn't want to sit back and allow shots."
The Riders continued to put pressure on the Spoilers in the final period and put the game on ice with Josh Gilbertson's goal from the slot with 56 seconds remaining.
The tally gave Red River its 15th state championship. The Roughriders have won three of the last five state titles.
"There are no excuses; Red River came to play," Spoilers coach Scott Petersen said. "They were ready, and I thought they wanted it more. Red River was just better in a lot of different areas."
The Riders' key goal came in the middle period when Fugleberg scored his fifth goal of the tournament. At 9:23 of the second period, Jon Lizotte sent Fugleberg on a breakaway and the junior forward deked Spoilers goalie Zach Suda for a short-handed goal.
ADVERTISEMENT
Miller is a sports reporter for the
Grand Forks Herald, which is owned
by Forum Communications Co.
