The frustration of the Grand Forks Central players was visible after the Knights were eliminated from the North Dakota East Region tournament on Friday, taking away their bid for another trip to the state high school hockey tournament.
West Fargo beat Central 5-2 at Purpur Arena in a loser-out game. The loss ended the Knights' season at 7-16-0 overall.
"We emptied the tanks," Central coach Tony Bina said. "We went all out and didn't quit. I respect everything our team has done but it wasn't enough."
Central rallied in the third period with two goals but it would prove to be too little, too late as West Fargo responded each time the Knights scored. "As soon as we got one we would give up one," Bina said. "I give West Fargo credit for jumping on us. They're opportunistic."
Central's two goals came from senior Jake Purpur.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Thing just wouldn't go right," Bina said. "We controlled play, hit posts but just couldn't get chances. We gave it our best effort in the third period but by then it was too late."
Justas Thene sealed the deal for West Fargo with an empty-netter with under a minute to play.
The Packers took an early lead after senior Sage Raghib scored less than a minute into the game. He scored later in the period for a 2-0 advantage after the first. Charlie Torrance's goal at 4:07 of the second gave the Packers a 3-0 lead.
"That helped a lot," West Fargo coach Tim Capouch said of the first goal. "It helped our momentum; we knew that Central wasn't going to quit."
The Knights outshot West Fargo 9-8 in the first period but still trailed by two goals.
"It was a team effort. Our defensemen battled hard in the last four minutes when they put some pressure on us," Capouch said.
West Fargo improved 9-14-0 overall and plays today for a qualifying spot at the state tournament.
The defeat left a sour taste for Central, Bina said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"You hope the guys coming back (next season) have the taste of defeat and disappointment so they'll work hard in the offseason," Bina said. "We need to get ourselves prepared to make sure this moment won't happen again."
Fargo South 9,
Devils Lake 2
Fargo South-Shanley ended Devils Lake's season in the other loser-out game.
It didn't take the Bruins long to gain control.
Jake Hintz scored at 3:39 of the first period. Hintz scored again at 6:24, followed by Bruin goals by Sam Harvey and Jon Baune to give South a 4-0 lead after the first period.
Hintz had a hat trick.
But the Bruins received four goals from Jarrett Olson-Etches.
ADVERTISEMENT
Devils Lake received goals from Austin Moser and Jake Anderson.
