Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — Lake Region State College women’s hockey, playing its first game in two weeks, fell 8-0 to Assiniboine Community College at Burdick Arena on Saturday.
The Royals fell to 4-7, preceding a Sunday morning match with Assiniboine (9-1) scheduled for Dec. 8. LRSC previously fell to Assiniboine 6-0 on Oct. 26.
“They’re disciplined. They don’t take bad penalties. They don’t get all over-emotional,” Royals first-year head coach Sawyer Diseth said of the Cougars. “I think eight minutes probably cost us, split up between the three periods. And quite frankly, when you play good college hockey, eight minutes will cost you a whole game. Very proud of our girls; they’re very, very tough.”
The first 11 minutes and 20 seconds of Saturday’s game were stale. Assiniboine controlled the possessions, but neither team scored or had any power plays. Goalie Jaelyn Buckman did her best to hold an early scoreless tie.
That changed at 8:40, when LRSC’s Julia Lone was charged with tripping. The Royals nearly survived the power play, but a goal went in the net during the final seconds, right as Lone was getting out of her seat.
The Cougars scored again 28 seconds later, and the game quickly spiraled out of control. Another goal snuck in at 5:25 to make it 3-0. Assiniboine completed a four-goal period at 2:06, simply crowding around Buckman and overwhelming her.
The Cougars had 24 shots on goal in the first period, compared to just two by LRSC.
They scored two more within the first three and a half minutes of the second period to make it 6-0.
Assiniboine was charged with tripping at 15:03, then tripping again at 14:06. LRSC had a 5-on-3 advantage for a minute and three seconds. The Royals got off a couple solid shots, but they were saved.
The Cougars had a power play later in the period after a poking penalty was charged to Lone at 3:42. But LRSC survived that one.
It was a relatively closer 21-6 in shots on goal in the second period.
Assiniboine’s final two goals came at 15:36 and 10:45 in the third period. The latter goal came during a 5-on-3 advantage for the Cougars, as Tatum Provencher and Arianna Haraseth were both charged with tripping.
“They acted like sharks with blood in the water. Once they got there, they got there,” Diseth said. “The second period, we kind of cleaned that up defensively. And I thought even in the third, we played a little better system defensive hockey. And I thought we had our opportunities; they really came off of some of our hardest-working defensive plays. So that’s good to see as a coach.”
The Royals now have some time off before returning to play on Jan. 10 against Montana State University. Their next and final home game is scheduled for Jan. 23 against Dakota College at Bottineau.
