The Dragons hockey team was crowned Two Rivers Conference Champions for the fifth straight year as they defeated St. Paul Highland Park 4-1 in Pine City last night.
The first time these two teams met, Pine City won 7-1, but the Dragons played better in last night's contest. The Scots goalie kept the game much closer than it was. Dusty Bergstrom got things started for Pine City by taking the puck by himself down the left side of the rink and sneaking one past the goalie for a quick 1-0 lead. St. Paul Highland Park quickly answered with a fluke goal that almost hit the rafters and came back down perfectly behind the back of Alex Laven. Pine City reacted well and regained the lead thanks to Parker Sell before the end of the first period.
The 2nd period and third periods were almost identical with Pine City controlling play and getting opportunities but Caden Frahm made a lot of really good saves to keep his team in the game. Seth Linnell scored one in the second to give the Dragons a comfortable two goal lead and Peyton Smetana put the game away with a goal in the third. Caden Frahm finished with 37 saves for Highland Park and many were point blank chances for the Dragons. Alex Laven in the opposing net had a great game as well with 18 saves on 19 shots.
Head Coach Grant Nicoll was pleased with his team's performance, "The boys played great position, our passing was stick to stick, we had physical play from our big guys, and overall we played a great game."
With the win the Dragons move to 17-5 on the season and are Two Rivers Conference Champions for the fifth straight season. They are off the rest of this week before playing their final three regular season games next week.
Dragons 2 1 1 4
Scots 1 0 0 1
Scoring
Pine City
Dusty Bergstrom - 1g, 1a
Parker Sell - 1g, 1a
Seth Linnell - 1g, 1a
Peyton Smetana - 1g
Luke Fabini - 2a
George Miller - 1a
Alex Laven - 18 saves on 19 shots
Photo Credit: Four Seasons Photography
