Ice Dawgs Take Second at State

The Glasgow Ice Dawgs brought home the second-place trophy from the Big Sky High School State Hockey Tournament in Bozeman this past weekend, as well as three All-State honors and a scholarship.

Glasgow entered the tournament as the number three seed and made their way to the championship game against the Missoula Bruins with an undefeated record in tournament play. The Bruins, coming off a huge upset win over the previously-undefeated Miles City Generals, won the title game 4-0 Sunday. Glasgow penalties and a solid showing by Bruins netminder Clayton Lucas were deciding factors in the game.

The Dawgs won their first four games before losing the championship game. Glasgow opened the tournament Feb. 23 with a 5-3 win over the Salmon (Idaho) Rapids. They faced the Great Falls Americans the following morning and posted a 4-1 victory. In the second round of pool play, Glasgow shut out the Flathead Fusion and the Butte Copper City Kings. The Dawgs dismantled the Fusion 8-0 Friday and overthrew the Kings 4-0 Saturday.

Glasgow's first game of the postseason was "ugly" according to fans but the Dawgs secured the triumph despite racking up 24 penalty minutes on eight infractions.

The Dawgs had the first entry on the stats sheet when Lex Fairclough drew an interference call 2:37 into action. Glasgow killed off the Rapids' man-advantage before having their own shot at the power play four-and-a-half minutes later when Salmon's Devin Younger took an involuntary seat, also on an interference call. The Rapids killed Glasgow's power play though.

The first goal of the game came almost three minutes later with both teams at full strength. James Baumer, assists Brayden Askew and Younger, put a puck past Dawgs' goaltender Aidin Wilkowski with 4:59 left in the first. Glasgow took just over three-and-a-half minutes to answer, but Michael Hoyer netted an even-strength goal with 2:21 left on the clock.

Salmon and Glasgow kept the officials busy in the second period with eight entries for penalties. Baumer drew a roughing call 2:07 into the second and Glasgow made good on the man-advantage. Hoyer scored his second goal of the game with help from Bode Barnett and Trevor Dulaney 37 seconds into their power play. Six penalties and ten minutes, 26 seconds later Salmon knotted the game again with a goal from Askew, assist Baumer, sending the teams to intermission with a 2-2 tie.

Askew put the Rapids ahead just 30 seconds into the third with help from Lloyd Neff and Carter Bill. He netted the Rapids' only power-play goal of the game with Dulaney serving out a late second-period hooking call. Zevin Kummerfeldt fired off a shot at the end of his shift with 12:32 left on the clock and found the back of the net to tie the game again. Aiden Price assisted on the tying goal.

With 8:17 remaining in the game, Barnett was sent to the box for roughing. Down a man, Hoyer scored the game-winning-goal and secured himself a hat trick 44 seconds into Salmon's power play. Tatum Hansen added the insurance goal for the Dawgs with 54 ticks left on the clock. Wilksowski and Hoyer earned the assists on the final goal of the game.

Glasgow outshot Salmon 48-27, giving Wilkowski the win in net with an 88.9 save percentage. The Dawgs were 1-for-4 on the man-advantage while Salmon went 1-for-7 on power plays.

In addition to Fairclough, Dulaney and Barnett's penalties, Hansen drew a roughing call in the second, Dillon Hughes was called for a 2-and-10 head contact also in the second while Kummerfeldt sat for tripping in the second and hooking in the third.

Glasgow hit the ice Friday morning against the Great Falls Americans and took control of the game early.

Hoyer lit up the scoreboard first, scoring 7:56 in with an assist from Hughes. The Dawgs also drew the first penalty of the game when Tavin Boland was sent to the sin bin for tripping with 7:32 remaining in the first. The Americans' Liam Flaherty took an involuntary seat less than a minute later with Dulaney joining Boland in the box 30 seconds after Flaherty on a cross-checking call, setting up a Great Falls 4-on-3 for a brief period. The Dawgs' special teams played strong, killing off Great Falls' advantages.

Glasgow gave Great Falls another scoring opportunity late in the first when Fairclough took an interference call and was joined in the box by Barnett, who was sent off the ice for roughing. The Dawgs' special teams came through again, building off plenty of experience throughout the season, and killed the penalties, ending the first up 1-0.

Hoyer got his team going again in the second, netting a goal 1:23 into the period with an assist from Barnett. Following the goal and some chirping from the Americans the action heated up. Less than two minutes after Hoyer's goal, Hughes returned to the sin bin to serve time for a 2-and-10 checking from behind call.

Down a man, the Dawgs scored a shortie. Dulaney found the back of the net with help from Barnett to put Glasgow up 3-0 with 13:42 left until intermission.

Great Falls' Easton Blaine, assist Owen Cronk, would cut the Dawgs' lead to two goals just under five minutes later, but it was to be the one and only Americans goal. Mason Hunter cemented Glasgow's win with a goal 12:19 into the third, with help from Charlie Cornwell.

Glasgow dominated puck control throughout the game, outshooting Great Falls 53-14, putting up 24 shots in the third period alone. Even when Great Falls managed to get the biscuit into Glasgow's zone, the Dawgs were quick with the poke checks, rarely allowing the Americans more than a few strides over the blue line.

Wilkowski earned the win between the pipes with a 92.9 save percentage. Glasgow denied Great Falls all six of their man-advantages, while the Dawgs went 0-for-5 on the power play. Hughes served the seventh of Glasgow's penalties, sitting again in the third on a roughing call.

The Dawgs returned to the ice later that day to take their most decisive – and cleanest – win of the tournament. Glasgow took down Flathead 8-0 while holding their penalties to three in the game. Flathead drew six calls, giving up three power plays to Glasgow.

The first period was all Aiden Price. The Dawg drew the first penalty of the game 1:20 on a roughing call but his teammates killed Flathead's man-advantage. He returned to the box just under three minutes later on a tripping call but again the Dawgs pulled through the two minutes without a Fusion goal.

Glasgow had their first power play 9:02 into the period, but Flathead denied them a goal in that two-minute stretch. Most of the first period passed with balanced puck control but the last 30 seconds of the period, Glasgow hammered away at Fusion netminder Isaac Middleton. It was Price who found the back of the net, scoring with 0.6 seconds left on the clock and notching the game-winning goal.

Glasgow found themselves on the right side of a 5-on-3 less than midway through the second after slowly taking control of the game. They failed to score on the double-man advantage but made use of the Flathead's second penalty in the second. Hoyer fired the puck into the net with 10:13 remaining before intermission. Barnett assisted on the insurance goal.

Fairclough made it 3-0 29 seconds later, firing from the blue line. Kummerfeldt and Wilkowski were credited with the assists. Barnett put the Dawgs up 4-0 with help from Hansen with 4:10 left in the second. Barnett, assist Hansen, scored again on a Dawgs' man-advantage with 1:28 on the clock.

Glasgow's third power-play goal, and sixth of the game, came again from Barnett with help from Hansen. The goal came 10:31 into the third period. The Dawgs were far from done though.

Glasgow held the puck in the zone for most of the third and it paid off for them. Boland hit the back of the net with 4:22 left in the game with Hoyer getting the assist. After another hammering of the Fusion goalie, Dulaney scored 34 seconds after that with an assist from Ava Lloyd.

Wilkowski earned the shutout for Glasgow. He faced only 15 total shots: nine in the first, two in the second and four in the third. The Dawgs put 50 pucks on net at the other end of the ice, 25 shots in the second period alone.

In addition to Price's two first-period penalties, Dulaney sat for cross-checking in the second.

The Dawgs returned to the ice Saturday morning against Butte. Glasgow racked up 31 minutes on six penalties while Butte held their infractions to five for 10 minutes in the box.

Hoyer started the scoring action just 47 seconds into the game, flinging a muffin at Butte goalie Kylie Jaksha. Cornwell and Boland assisted on what would turn out to be the game-winning goal. Glasgow kept firing pucks at Jaksha but it took nearly 13 minutes before the Dawgs would score again. Hansen turned on the jets on a breakaway, getting an assist on Boland's goal with 3:50 left in the first.

Both teams kept the officials busy in the second period. Butte's Colby Jensen and Charlie Cornwell were sent to the box just 13 seconds in. Jensen took a minor while Cornwell sat for a 2-and-10 head contact call. Braxten Ball, Butte, was sent to the sin bin for high-sticking just over three minutes later. With 11:46 left on the clock Butte's Trenton Harrison sat for slashing and Glasgow's Boland was called for spearing. The 5-minute major and accompanying 10-minute misconduct earned Boland an early departure from the game.

Hansen netted an even-strength goal with 10:49 on the clock and both teams playing with four on the ice. Cornwell was credited with the assist. With time still remaining on the Boland penalty, Dulaney found himself on a breakaway and scored after crossing in front of the Butte goalie, getting the shortie with help from Barnett with 8:04 remaining before intermission. Hansen was called for hooking with 6:16 to go before the break, but the Dawgs killed the penalty.

The third period slowed down both offensively and penalty-wise. Statistics from the game showed no shots for either team in the third and neither team sent a player to the sin bin in the final 17 minutes of play.

Wilkowski earned the shutout win after facing only three shots from the Copper City Kings. Jaksha faced 19 total shots, 17 in the first period, for Butte.

Glasgow's other penalty came in the first period of the game when Hoyer was sent to the penalty box for tripping.

With the win over Butte, Glasgow was the only team in the tournament with an undefeated record. The Missoula Bruins had knocked off the Miles City Generals 3-2 just prior to Glasgow's win over Butte. Following Saturday's afternoon games, Missoula advanced to the championship game at 10:30 a.m. Sunday to face the Dawgs.

The intensity of the first three days of the tournament had caught up with both teams, as they battled through a tight first period. Glasgow racked up several icing calls towards the end of the period while playing just a half-stride behind Missoula. The Dawgs also struggled with passing, their connections just slightly off.

Missoula's Sonia Charman scored an upper-decker goal with just 26.6 seconds left in the first period. She was assisted by Cyrus Jacaruso and Aidan Hoppner. Hoyer served the only penalty in the first, taking an involuntary seat for tripping 10:08 into the game.

Kummerfeldt was called for a hooking call 5:11 into the second, giving Missoula another man-advantage but the Dawgs killed it. The Bruins took their turn at icing the puck, slowing down both team's attempts at gaining momentum.

Glasgow took a major blow with 7:23 left to play before intermission, losing a major offensive force for an extended period when Hoyer drew a 2-and-10 for boarding. Glasgow killed off the two minutes but then failed to convert on their own power play when Missoula's Alexander Barlow was sent to the sin bin for roughing with 4:09 remaining in the second.

Glasgow gave the Bruins another advantage with 2:09 on the clock when they put too many players on the ice. Missoula's Colter Elam made the Dawgs pay just six seconds into their sentence. Alex Duello and Jacaruso assisted on the PPG.

Penalties continued to cost Glasgow in the third period. Hoyer drew a high-sticking call – and an automatic ejection for his fourth penalty of the game – 10:42 into the third. A Barnett roughing call less than a minute later gave the Bruins a 5-on-3 advantage.

Ezra Kellman Gross, assists Elam and Charman, scored on the two-man advantage 42 seconds into it. Elam scored on the remaining penalty 26 seconds later to extend Missoula's lead to 4-0. Jacaruso and Hoppner assisted. Dulaney, cross-checking, and Cornwell, on a minor, both took seats in the waning moments of the final period.

Missoula's netminder Lucas turned away a number of quality shots by the Dawgs, earning the shutout win after facing 17 total shots in the game. Wilkowski saw 28 attempts on his net, giving him an 85.7 save percentage. The Bruins were 3-for-8 on power plays while Glasgow went 0-for-2.

Glasgow's only losses this season came at the hands of Miles City and Missoula. The Dawgs dropped four to a strong Generals team in the regular season and found themselves slightly outplayed in their final game against Missoula.

Three Ice Dawgs earned All-State honors at Saturday's ceremony. Hansen was named Defensive All-State. Hoyer and Barnett earned Offensive All-State honors. Hoyer was also awarded the Damen Heck Memorial Officiating scholarship.

Glasgow loses seniors Dulaney, Hoyer, Sam Knierim, Lloyd, Emma Whitmer and Wilkowski but next year's team will be bolstered by a number of members of this year's tough-as-nails Bantams team. With some line changes amid the new roster and a focus on reigning in penalties, the Dawgs will be looking at another run at the championship again next year.