Veronica Asquith (22)/Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — The Royals’ coaching staff looked a little different on Saturday.
LRSC women’s hockey (3-7), playing a previously postponed matchup with Dakota College at Bottineau (1-5), lost a 6-2 contest at Burdick Arena. Its first-year head coach, Sawyer Diseth, was busy getting married, so first-year assistant coach Austin Kempel stepped in to lead the team. Kempel graduated from Devils Lake High School just a few months ago after playing three seasons on the boys’ varsity hockey team.
“I think it went well,” Kempel said. “I think there’s some things that I need to work on, and the team needs to work on.”
Brady Stein, the head coach of the LRSC men’s hockey team and a fellow Devils Lake native, tagged along to assist Kempel. Steve Anderson, the Royals’ new baseball coach, also joined the crew, leading a team with only 10 active players compared to Bottineau’s 19.
“I think that the low numbers really affected us,” Kempel said. “But I think that the girls battled hard. And just some small things we need to fix in practice.”
To round out the homey feel, former Devils Lake and current LRSC pitcher Simon Beach had the PA announcing duties. And Devils Lake girls’ hockey coach Rob McIvor was one of the officials.
The Royals got both their goals from Veronica Asquith, who’s scored 13 of the team’s 20 goals this season. They clawed back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it in the second period, but were ultimately sunk by four goals in the third period.
Just 41 seconds into the game, Bottineau got on the board on a goal by Ella Stow. The Jacks controlled the majority of the early possessions.
Sophomore Julia Lone had a prime scoring chance at 11:32, with an open shot from the middle clear of defenders, but it was blocked. Bottineau scored exactly a minute later on a goal by Brandi Yellow Wings. The Royals fell into a 2-0 hole.
LRSC was hit with two penalties at once, as Sierra Raatz and Ella Holkesvig were sent to the box at the same time. Freshman Jaelyn Buckman, a goalie from Cando, had numerous saves during the 5-on-3 disadvantage, though, and the Royals survived the power play.
Asquith scored her first goal with three minutes left in the first period. After not quite finding space in the left side of the net, she flipped around and poked it in the right side. So the Royals, despite getting outshot 22-7 in the first period, went into the second period trailing by only a goal.
LRSC couldn’t take advantage of a power play that carried over from the first period. But it scored anyway less than two minutes into the second period, as Asquith found the net again to tie it at 2-2. Roughly three minutes later, she narrowly missed a go-ahead shot.
“She knows the game really well,” Kempel said. “She grinds. She’s always been a grinder. I think that she’s a very important aspect of the team.”
The Royals’ defense forced more pressure and made openings tougher to come by. LRSC allowed only 12 shots on goal in the second period, 10 fewer than the first. It did enough to hold a 2-2 tie through the end of the middle frame.
But power plays finally got the best of the Royals. Holkesvig had a roughing penalty that carried over from the second period, and Bottineau scored just 27 seconds into the third period to retake the lead.
Exactly one second after Holkesvig returned to the ice, Raatz was hit with a checking penalty. About a minute later, the Jacks scored once again.
In only a minute and 50 seconds of play, the game spiraled into a 4-2 deficit for LRSC.
The Royals had a power play that turned into a 5-on-3, but they couldn’t take advantage. With less than five minutes left, the Jacks scored again on a tipped deflection. Bottineau rubbed salt in the wound by scoring a sixth goal with 14.8 seconds to go, completing the third-period blowout.
The LRSC women’s hockey team returns to action with home games against Assiniboine Community College on Dec. 7 and 8.
