JUNIOR VARSITY
The JV Rangers dropped a pair of SDAHA games over the weekend as they fell 6-5 to Yankton on Friday at Larson Ice Center, and then, lost 4-2 at Sioux Falls 1 on Sunday.
The Rangers, 12-5 in league play and tied for second in the standings with 24 points, return to SDAHA play on Feb. 2 when they play host to Sioux Falls 2.
• Yankton 6, Brookings 5
The teams traded goals in the first period which ended in a 2-2 tie before Yankton took a 4-2 lead with a pair of goals in the second. The Rangers rallied with three straight goals in the third period to go up 5-4, but the Bucks answered with two for the 6-5 win.
Carter Merritt got the Rangers on the scoreboard less than 5 minutes into play off an assist from Jordan Svobodny, and then, Luc Bouchard lit the lamp as Kane Kurtenbach and Riley Jacobsen picked up the assists.
Trailing 4-2 in the final period, Svobodny found the back of the net two minutes in with the assist going to Dylan Park. Unassisted goals by Trevor Pederson and Cayden Jacobsma gave Brookings the 5-4 advantage but the Rangers couldn’t hold on as the Bucks tied the game midway through before scoring the short-handed game-winning goal with less than 3 minutes to play.
Yankton held a 33-26 edge in shots as Philip Kuechenmeister finished with 27 saves in the loss.
• Sioux Falls I 4, Brookings 2
Jacobsen cashed in on a power-play chance midway through the first period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead after one before Sioux Falls scored two unanswered goals in the second for a 2-1 edge heading into the third.
Bouchard scored an unassisted short-handed goal midway through the third to tie the game at 2-2, but the Flyers matched that with their own short-handed goal 3 minutes later, and then, added an insurance goal with less than 3 minutes to play for the two-goal win.
Sioux Falls held a 33-14 advantage in shots as Kaden Gutormson finished with 29 saves in the loss.
BANTAMS
The Bantam Rangers dominated play against Yankton – outshooting the Miracle, 55-13 – to skate to a 7-1 win on Saturday to improve to 7-1-0-1 with 15 points, moving into third place in the SDAHA standings.
Brookings plays host to Yankton on Friday and second-place Fremont on Saturday at Larson Ice Center before traveling to Mitchell on Sunday.
• Brookings 7, Yankton 1
The Rangers built a 2-0 lead after a period as Logan Bortnem lit the lamp midway through off an Ashton Witte helper before Wes Koenig cashed in on a power-play chance, with Trenton Pederson and Bortnem picking up the assists.
The Miracle halved the lead with an early second-period goal, but Brookings answered with four straight tallies to lead 6-1 through two. Talon Richter notched a power-play goal off a Koenig setup, and then, Koenig scored with the assist going to Brody Powers. Witte found the back of the net on another power-play opportunity as Bortnem and Jacob Drew earned assists before Bortnem scored an unassisted goal on another power play.
Bortnem collected the hat trick with another unassisted power-play goal midway through the third for the final margin.
Holden Richardson stopped 12 of the 13 shots that he faced for the win in goal.
14U GIRLS
The 14U Rangers posted a 4-1 SDAHA win over Aberdeen on Saturday to improve to 5-3-0-1 in league play and sit in second place in the standings with 11 points.
Brookings travels to Aberdeen on Jan. 27 for a pair of games.
• Brookings 4, Aberdeen 1
Savannah Barber tallied an unassisted goal midway through the first period to get the Rangers on the scoreboard before Kiran Vugteveen added an unassisted goal 5 minutes later as Brookings led 2-0 after one.
The Rangers built on their lead in the second period when Jadyn Kuehl found the back of the net off a Barber setup; and then, Vugteveen notched her second goal – this time an unassisted, short-handed tally – for the 4-0 lead.
The Cougars did score 4 minutes later to close within three goals heading into the scoreless final period.
Brookings outshot Aberdeen, 20-13, as Heidi Merriman collected 12 saves in the win.
PEEWEES
The PeeWee Blue Rangers posted a 3-2 league win over Sioux Falls on Jan. 4 before going 0-4 at the Sioux Falls Tournament last weekend.
• Brookings 3, Sioux Falls I 2
After a scoreless first period, the Flyers got on the scoreboard early in the second but Jordan Raatz lit the lamp off a Garrett Bothe assist with 5 1/2 minutes left to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the third.
Brookings went up 2-1 after Bothe’s unassisted goal but Sioux Falls answered with 1:42 to play to tie it back up. Gage Peterson tallied an unassisted goal 21 seconds later to give the Rangers the 3-2 win.
Egan Jensen finished with 32 saves as the Flyers held a 34-32 edge in shots.
• Superior Lake/Savage 13, Brookings 1
Jensen had a busy game in net as he stopped 51 of the 64 shots that he faced as Brookings held a brief lead when Peterson scored off an Aidan Austreim assist early in the first period.
• Cando Odnacs 8, Brookings 1
Cando Odnacs scored three goals in the first and two in the second before the Rangers got on the scoreboard with a Peterson goal to open the third period as Austreim picked up the helper.
Jensen finished with 41 saves as Cando Odnacs held a 49-13 edge in shots.
• Fargo 6, Brookings 1
The Freeze scored four straight goals to open the game before Raatz found the back of the net with 13.6 seconds to play in the first period.
Fargo added single goals in both the second and third period for the final score as Jensen notched 50 saves in the loss.
• Edina 8, Brookings 2
Edina led 4-0 after a period before the Rangers cut the lead in half with two goals to open the second-period scoring.
Brayden Klingbile lit the lamp off assists from Raatz and Koen Beinhorn, and then, Raatz found the back of the net with Bothe picking up the assist.
Edina answered with two goals to lead 6-2 through two before adding two in the third for win.
Jensen finished with 27 saves as Edina outshot the Rangers 35-24.
