McKenzie County Farmer - Sports

Jarrett Wold
Guest Columnist

The Watford City Oilers are the NDAHA Girls High School State Champions!
The Oilers entered the tournament as the #2 seed which drew them the #3 seed, Richland Rangers, and the #6 Crosby Comets in pool play. The girls played the Rangers first thing on Friday morning, Feb. 28. The trend of starting slowly for the Oilers was evident, as was the Ranger’s desperation to start fast.

The Rangers dominated the Oilers in the first period outshooting the Oilers 16-3, and scoring 2. The Oilers closed the gap in the play a little bit in the second, but still trailed 2-0 late in the period. You’re going to hear a lot about faceoffs over the weekend and the Oilers got on the board following an offensive zone faceoff.

Aiden Olson won the draw to Bria Samuelson, she took one step toward the net and put an innocent looking shot on goal. The players all thought the puck was frozen, but the official was behind the goalie and clearly saw the puck still moving. While the players circled away for another faceoff, the puck rolled off the goalie and into the net by an inch. The Oilers were on the score board and finished the period down 2-1.

The third period was full of penalties for the Oilers, but that makes the game simpler for the team killing the penalty. Get the puck, send it down the ice, then chase after it with 1 player, if you get control then the second player joins to offense. 2:30 into the third, Emree Wold was player 1, she outran Knut and the Ranger defense, to the puck behind the Ranger net, she won a quick battle with the defender, at the perfect time Kaylor Knutson made a run into the slot, got a nice pass from Emree and buried it 5 hole to tie the game. 24 seconds later, on the same PK, Aiden Olson was hard on the puck, she was able to block a Ranger pass that went right to Bria.

Bria with a quick move to the right blistered her second goal of the game past the goalie’s blocker and the Oilers had the lead. From that point forward the Ranger’s sails were empty because the Oilers took all the wind. With 7 minutes left, again on the PK the Oilers sealed the deal. Eastyn Wold was on the forecheck and intercepted a Ranger pass right in front of their net, the puck barely touched her stick before it beat the goalie low stick side. Blegen was tested in the net with 30 saves.

Watford City vs. Crosby
Next up were the Crosby Comets and the Oilers started a little slow again, but were able to score first. Off the faceoff, Emree won it to Eastyn, Eastyn and Lauren Melland execute a simple give and go on the wall. Eastyn saw a small gap in the D, walked from the corner all the way across the net and beat the goalie with a stick side deke. 1-0 after 1.

The Oilers came out firing in the second. Faceoff win again, Emree won it back to Lyrik Olson, Lyrik hit Eastyn flying down the far boards for a breakaway. Eastyn made a sick deke, leaving the goalie on the wrong side of the net when she hit the brakes and tapped it in the empty net.

Eastyn wasn’t done. After a flurry of shots on the Comet goalie, Aiden and Bria cycled the puck to Eastyn who worked through the high slot and beat the goalie high glove side for her hat trick.
Knut started the next goal for the Oilers in the d-zone, firing a pass wide to Eastyn, Eastyn raced up the wall before giving it to Emree in the middle of the slot, she fired and beat the goalie five hole. Lauren set Eastyn up for the next goal on the power play. Lauren skated the puck up the wall to open up the middle for the pass to Eastyn, who skated in the zone a beat the goalie high glove side.

Knutson caused a turnover in the offensive zone to set up the next goal, chipped the puck toward Emree, who tipped it by the D, she made a quick deke and beat the goalie stick side. Aiden Olson would score the final goal of the game on the power play. She carried the puck down the wall, cycled behind her to Berkley Wirtz, Wirtz cycled low to Nevaeh Garcia, Nevaeh got the puck back on Aiden’s stick, who worked herself to her forehand side right next to the net and picked the top corner for her goal. Blegen tallied the shutout with 12 saves.
The win put the Oilers into the semi-finals against Bottineau/Rugby.

Watford City vs. Bottineau/Rugby
The Oilers once again started a little slow in the first 5 minutes, but after that, the Oilers were on fire. Emree won the draw forward in the defensive zone, Eastyn picked it up and bounced a pass to herself off the boards and was gone. A quick deke to the stick side and the Oilers were up 1-0.

The Oilers forecheck was relentless, B/R couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone and the Oiler D were getting shot after shot. One of those was from Melland, Emree got a pass from Eastyn, she moved it up the wall to Lauren and she put a rocket low off the left post for the 2-0 lead. On the power play, good puck movement from Knutson to Eastyn behind the net led to a shot and a save, but Emree was right there to knock in the rebound and give the Oilers the 3-0 lead after 1.

Aiden Olson scored next on the PK, picking off a pass and going in on a breakaway, deking the goalie for the goal. B/R would score next, but the Oilers would answer. Emree won a battle in the corner and found Eastyn in the slot, this time Eastyn shot it 5 hole for the 5-0 lead. Eastyn scored the next goal, shorthanded. She picked up a puck in the d-zone, moved up the ice, made a move on the D and shot it though the screen 5 hole to make it 6-1.

The final goal of the game came on the power play, Knutson carried the puck into the zone and put a shot on net. A huge scramble ensued until the puck came to Emree and she snapped it past the goalie’s blocker. Blegen was solid between the pipes making 32 saves.

This game was the most completely dominant game of the Oiler’s season. The effort and hard work all year really brought the girls together in the semi’s and they left no doubt who was going to the ship. The win set up a rematch from the prior Sunday vs. Hazen/Beulah. The coaches talked all week about staying calm and not getting too amped up before the game and that was very important before the championship game because of double overtime in the 3rd place game the Championship started 45 minutes late.

Watford City vs. Hazen/Beaulah
Again, the Oilers started slow taking a penalty in the first 30 seconds and allowing the first 6 shots. The Oilers were able to kill the power play and get to work. As in the B/R game, the Oilers forecheck was hard to handle for the North Stars. The Oilers drew first blood because of a great forecheck by Emree, she pressured the defender and took the puck away. Her effort earned her the breakaway and she made them pay, ripping a shot high over the goalie’s glove.

Another faceoff win, another Oiler goal. An offensive zone faceoff play that the Oilers haven’t used at all this season created a goal. The coaches were planning to use it on Sunday and with 1:56 left in the first period was the time.

Aiden was called on to take a draw instead of Emree. Emree was the blocker, Eastyn was the shooter. Aiden won the draw perfectly to Eastyn, Emree screened the goalie and Eastyn ripped it glove side to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.

After giving up the first 6 shots, the Oilers didn’t give up any more shots, adding 7 of their own and 2 goals. The North Stars were the #1 seed for a reason and never gave up. They took advantage of a few mistakes by the Oilers and scored the next 2 goals only 50 seconds apart to tie the game.

The Oilers had to regroup and get back to work. The game went back and forth until the last 5 minutes. The Oiler’s faceoff game struck again. Emree pushed the defensive draw forward, Knutson knows, she knows, push it wide and Eastyn will take it from there. Eastyn walked around the last defender, made a move to the left, which the goalie bit hard on, but Eastyn had a plan. She put the brakes on, switched to her backhand and tapped it in the wide open net.

Blegen made 3 amazing saves to keep the score 3-2 after 2. With 17 minutes left of the championship game the girls had to come up with their best hockey of the season and they did.
The third started back and forth until the North Stars started committing penalties. After 1 minute of a 5-4 power play the Stars took another minor setting up a 5-3 power play. The Oilers immediately put it in the net, but it was called off due to a quick whistle.

The next PP unit came out and made it count. Lyrik Olson’s shot missed wide, but Emree chased it down. She won a quick battle and pushed the puck to Eastyn. Eastyn worked behind the net drawing all the North Star defenders and their eyes. Eastyn had a plan, draw the D, find Emree on the back door and that’s what happened. She slid the puck by the defenders and Emree was there with a bullet one-timer to extend the lead to 2.

Nineteen seconds is all it took for the Oilers to ice the game. Still on the power play, the Aiden and Bria got to work in the corner. Aiden was able to get the puck to Bria who didn’t hesitate and ripped a laser past the goalie’s ear and into the top of the net.

The Oilers continued to outplay the Stars for the rest of the game playing smart hockey, dumping pucks in deep and forechecking to keep the puck away from Blegen, who had 24 saves. 5-2 was the final for Watford City’s first 19U State Championship since 2004.

This group of girls saved their best for last, playing their 2 best hockey games of their season to win the Championship.
Special teams were huge for the Oilers on the weekend. The girls scored 5 short-handed and 6 power play goals. Eastyn, Emree and Berkley were honored as All-State Award winners.
Eastyn received a patch for her hat trick, and Sierra Blegen earned a Shutout patch in the win over Crosby. The Oilers graduate 1 senior, Kaylor Knutson, who only started playing hockey at 12 years old. She is a great example for young girls who are not sure if they want to play hockey.

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