Junior Varsity boys, Varsity girls finish third at state

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RAPID CITY – Despite 74 minutes in penalties in Sunday’s third-place game against Mitchell at the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association Boys’ Junior Varsity State Tournament, the Rangers prevailed, 3-2, in overtime to bring home some hardware.

No. 2 seed Brookings defeated seventh-seeded Oahe, 3-1, in Friday’s opening round, but fell for the third time this season to third-seeded Fremont, 2-0, in Saturday’s semifinal matchup.

Top-seeded Rushmore, the regular-season champion, downed Fremont, 7-3, to win the state tournament.

THIRD-PLACE

• Rangers 3, Mitchell 2, OT

Brookings dominated play, especially in the second and third periods, by outshooting the Marlins, 36-20, for the game as Philip Kuechenmeister earned the win in goal with 18 saves.

Austin Kerr gave Mitchell a 1-0 lead after a period before the Rangers scored twice early in the second to go up 2-1. Carter Shoup converted a power-play opportunity just 76 seconds in off an assist from Luc Bouchard and then, Bouchard netted the puck two minutes later off setups from Jack McCarty and Shoup. Benjamin Hieb scored for the Marlins with less than seven minutes to play to send the game into the final frame tied at 2-2.

Although no goals were scored in the third period, there was still plenty of action as Brookings racked up 58 penalty minutes and had three players ejected.

In an evenly played overtime in which both teams took three shots, Justin Mofle lit the lamp with 28 seconds remaining off assists from McCarty and Sean Sullivan to give the Rangers a 3-2 win and the third-place trophy.

SEMIFINAL

• Fremont 2, Rangers 0

Despite a 12-5 advantage in shots in the first period, Brookings couldn’t find the back of the net, as the game was scoreless after 17 minutes.

Fremont scored on a breakaway goal midway through the second to lead 1-0 through two, and then, the Flyers added a power-play goal less than a minute into the third for insurance as they advanced to the title game.

Both teams finished with 22 shots as Tristian Hokenson came up with 20 saves in the loss.

FIRST ROUND

• Rangers 3, Oahe 1

Brookings scored once in each frame to down the Capitals, 3-1, in the opener.

McCarty netted a short-handed, unassisted goal with 7:41 to play in the first before Shoup pushed the lead to 2-0 less than 90 seconds into the second period as Bouchard and Noah Drew picked up assists. But Oahe made it 2-1 just 20 seconds later with an unassisted, short-handed goal for the Caps.

Midway through the third frame, Joel Syrstad tallied an unassisted goal for the final margin as the Rangers held a 34-12 edge in shots with Kuechenmeister collecting 11 saves for the win in net.