Fargo Shanley tries to dig the puck out from behind Devils Lake’s net. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
DEVILS LAKE — A 4-0 hole doomed the Devils Lake hockey team as it dropped its fourth straight on Thursday.
However, it wasn’t the laugher it had the makings of in the second period. The Firebirds scored three unanswered goals, making it a one-score contest before Fargo Shanley ultimately won 5-3.
“When you put yourself in a hole, you’ve got to dig out of it somehow,” Devils Lake head coach Landyn Swenson said. “And I thought our guys responded pretty well. We gave ourselves a chance.”
The Firebirds (7-6, 4-5) dropped their third straight EDC game. They’d previously beaten Shanley (5-9-1, 3-6) for their first EDC win, a 4-3 victory in December.
This time, Shanley outshot Devils Lake 47-24. The Deacons got goals from five different players.
“They’re a good, well-coached team,” Swenson said. “They work hard. They put themselves in opportunities to score goals. It’s just coming ready to go. Obviously, we’re down a couple guys. That doesn’t help anything. But that’s not going to be an excuse we’re going to use going forward.”
Devils Lake just recently got senior goalie Matt Graue back from an injury. He started Tuesday’s game.
On Thursday, the Firebirds opted to go with sophomore Devin Kempel in net. He had been filling while Graue was out.
Kempel allowed four goals in 22 Shanley shots on Thursday.
“Both guys, I feel like, give us a chance to win a hockey game,” Swenson said. “So, at the end of the day, we decided to go with Kempel. And we thought he played well. There was a couple bad bounces there; nothing he can do about it. We’re not going to take that away from him.”
Shanley had more shots on goal than Devils Lake in the first period by a 16-4 margin.
It was scoreless for the first 15 minutes and 47 seconds. But Shanley’s Jordan Wright scored after a deflected shot, and Calen Anderson had a breakaway goal with 3.8 seconds on the clock.
The Firebirds headed to the locker room, down 2-0.
Devils Lake controlled the ice a little better early in the second period. The Firebirds still struggled to get a clean handle on the puck in the Deacons’ offensive zone.
There were no penalties in the game until there was 12:23 left in the second period — a holding call on Shanley. The Firebirds managed just two shots on goal during the power play.
With 9:04 left in the second period, Noah Oksendahl scored for Shanley, reflexively knocking the puck in the net after it bounced off Kempel.
The Deacons had their first power play with 7:11 left. Shanley took advantage, with a goal by Ben Qualley to make it 4-0. The goal was Qualley’s first point of the season.
Devils Lake replaced Kempel with Graue mid-period. Graue went on to save all 10 shots Shanley took through the rest of the period.
“He’s going to compete,” Swenson said. “We didn’t know if he was 100% yet. So we didn’t put him out there right away. But he came in and he did his job.”
The Firebirds got on the board with 3:04 left in the second period. Freshman Hayden Volk found the net for the eighth time this season, the second-most on the team. He’s been a nice boost for Devils Lake amidst this tough stretch. Thomas Leevers had an assist.
And the Firebirds, to their credit, played hard in the third period to make it a game.
Senior Braxton Boline scored two goals. His first came 37 seconds into the third period, with an assist from Jamison Hanson. His second came on a long-range shot during a power play, with 7:50 left in the game. He had assists from Nash Riggin and Weston Stromme — bringing the Firebirds within a goal.
Graue’s effort off the bench also kept Devils Lake in it. He saved the first 23 shots before Shanley finally scored on him.
Wright — who scored the first goal of the game — also scored the last one, with just 3:02 to play.
Graue ended up with 24 saves in 25 shots on goal.
“Matt came in and gave us a little bit of a spark,” Swenson said. “And he played really well.”
Devils Lake is in the midst of its first real losing streak of this season. And things don’t get any easier.
The Firebirds host first-place Grand Forks Red River on Monday. Then they’ll have second-place West Fargo Sheyenne in town on Thursday.
“I just want the guys to come and compete,” Swenson said. “If we can come and compete every single day, I’m going to be happy. If we’re working our butt off and creating opportunities for ourselves, it doesn’t really matter, necessarily, the score on the scoreboard. But I just want our guys to come back, bounce back right now, compete next week and we’ll go from there.”
