WEST FARGO - The No. 1 Bismarck Blizzard girls hockey team stormed past the No. 2 West Fargo Packers 3-1 on Friday at Veterans Memorial Arena.
The leading scorer in the state, Britta Curl, scored the Blizzard's (15-3, 13-0) first two goals in the second period, and the Packers were unable to get into any kind of offensive rhythm.
"We kind of tried to make it a point to make them play a 200-foot game," Bismarck head coach Tim Meyer said. "We don't want to let them establish too much zone time and I think we were able to do that, especially in the third period."
The first period ended with no scoring, as both sides were unable to capitalize on breakaway opportunities. Bismarck had a narrow 10-8 shots on goal advantage over West Fargo.
Both teams had good showings by their young goalies.
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At the 6-minute, 33-second mark in the first period West Fargo's Janey Sandoval had a breakaway opportunity, but freshman goaltender Skylar Ackerman made the save to keep the Packers (13-3-1, 10-2-1) from scoring early. Ackerman finished with 13 saves on 14 shots.
Later in the period, Bismarck junior Kaitlyn Page had a scoring opportunity following a well-placed pass from Curl, but Packers freshman goaltender Brooklyn Myrvik came up with a huge save. Myrvik finished with 32 saves on 35 shots.
The second period Bismarck heated up and capitalized on the Packers' mistakes. West Fargo's Sandoval was hit with a 2-minute minor penalty for checking and Curl capitalized with a power-play goal.
"Coach said just to do what we were doing and just calm down our nerves and get pucks into the net, and when we got opportunities like that we got to take advantage of them and just keep shooting and we got one in," Curl said. "That's what got us going."
Curl scored her second goal less than two minutes later at 7:31 off a pass from freshman Kenley Anderson. At the 2:43 mark in the third, Curl also had an assist for Page. Senior Anne Dickson was also credited with an assist on that goal.
The Packers avoided being shutout for the second time this season with a late third period goal from Sandoval at 14:36, off an assist from sophomore Courtney Walsh. But the goal was the only shot the Packers had in the period.
The Blizzard out-shot the Packers 35-14 overall and 15-1 in the third period alone. Packers head coach Pat Johnson said his team had a game plan, but failed to execute it.
"We had a game plan, we just didn't follow it. Some of our girls gotta realize that when we put that in, you have to actually execute," Johnson said. "We didn't execute it."
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The win was the Blizzard's second over West Fargo this season, and it was one of their final tests before state playoffs. The win was their thirteenth straight against a North Dakota opponent this season.
"It's just an extra confidence boost, we know what we can do, we just gotta take every game as it is, and just having that win in our back pocket gives us the upper hand over other teams," Curl said.
SAVES: B, Ackerman 8-5-1-13. WF, Myrvik 10-8-14-32
FIRST PERIOD: No scoring. SECOND PERIOD: 1, B, Curl (German) 5:47 PP. 2, B, Curl (Anderson) 7:31. THIRD PERIOD: 3, B, Page (Curl, Dickson) 2:43. 4, WF, Sandoval (Walsh) 14:36.
