A full five minutes with an advantage in skaters proved to be the lift Fargo South-Davies needed Thursday.
The Bruins scored three power-play goals - including two off a five-minute major penalty - in a 5-2 win over Minot during the quarterfinals of the North Dakota girls hockey state tournament at Olympic Arena.
With four minutes, 46 seconds left in the first period Minot’s Kinsey Hanson was called for a checking-from-behind penalty that allowed South-Davies to open up its offense.
“(Minot) has a short bench so anytime one of its players went in the box we knew that would give us a big advantage,” South-Davies head coach Josh Issertell said. “After we settled into the game we were able to move the puck around on the power play and that created some opportunities for us to score.”
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South-Davies sophomore forward Anna Ingersoll scored with 15:04 remaining in the first period. The power play carried over into the second period by fourteen seconds, which was enough time for senior center Summer Hayes to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
Hayes scored nine seconds into the second period.
“(The power play) allowed us to play our game,” Hayes said. “It also gave us confidence to keep the momentum going in our favor.”
Bruins freshman forward Annika Mogck made it 3-0 getting a shot past Minot’s Sydney Swanson later in the second period.
The victory sends sixth-seeded South-Davies (10-14-0) to the semifinals for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when it won a state title. The Bruins play West Fargo at approximately 2:30 p.m. today at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
“Our players wanted to earn the right to play on the sheet of ice in the big arena,” Issertell said. “We also wanted to prove a lower seed could get it done this year.”
Minot (18-6-0) was seeded No. 3 and got goals from Alissa Ewan and Makalla Anderson.
Junior goaltender Emily Grothmann stopped 28 shots for the Bruins.
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Alysse Glasner and Megan Lorenz also scored goals for South-Davies.
