Sports Roundup: Mariners top Agates on ice

• Darryl Hansen

Goalie Darryl Hansen had 24 saves in the Mariners 4-2 victory against the Agates Tuesday. Jill Innis
• Chad Brelie

Chad Brelie scored six points against McGregor Tuesday. Jill Innis

Talk about it

Silver Bay/Cook County scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a 4-2 comeback victory over Two Harbors at Lake County Arena before a large and boisterous crowd Tuesday. The game was rough and tumble and back and forth and had a few things happen rarely, if ever, seen on a hockey rink.

The Mariners came out and outshot the Agates 8-0 in the first half of the first period and scored the only goal of the period at 15:21 on a power play. The Agates outshot the Mariners 9-6 in the second half of the period. Warren Carter, who finished the game with two goals and two assists, scored the first goal with assists from defensemen Cody Vadnais and Ruslan Loeffler.

The second period was all Agates as they continued their momentum. They outshot the Mariners 10-4 and outscored them 2-0. Casey Fitzpatrick tied it up with an unassisted goal to the far side of the net on a nice wrist shot just two minutes into the period.

The Agates took the lead with seven and a half seconds remaining in the period on a mad scramble in front of the Mariner net. Sean Graden scored the goal with assists from Matt McDannold and Ben Ruberg.

The Mariners came out in the final period and took the momentum back to their side of the ice as they scored three times and outshot the Agates 14-7. Carter came off the bench on a line change in the neutral zone, picked up the puck and worked his way to the net all alone for an unassisted goal to tie the game 2-2, two minutes into the period.

Four minutes later Carter fed Drew Holmen, scoring what proved to be the game-winner. At 9:36 of the period, Carter threaded the needle and perfectly timed a pass to Cody Larson on a 2-on-1 break that led to an insurance goal for the Mariners. Aaron Lee finished the game with 29 stops for the Agates and Darryl Hansen made 24 saves for the Mariners to pick up the victory.

The game saw a goalie break two sticks in the same period (Hansen) and for a time both goalies played without a stick at the same time. With 6:21 remaining in the final period, the referees sent all nine skaters on the ice to the sin bin after a heated disagreement around the Agate net. All six goals in the contest were scored at the same end of the rink.

The two teams meet again Jan. 23 in Silver Bay and it should once again be crowd pleaser.

Girls hockey

The girls finished play in the Red Division of the Schwan Cup with a 6-0 loss to Totino-Grace in the third place game.

The Eagles led 1-0 after one and 4-0 after two as they outshot the Mariners 45-14.

Fargo North defeated Orono 7-1 to take first place.

Totino had more shots on goal in the first period (17) than SBTHCC had during the entire game. Nikki Mealey stopped 39 shots for the Bay.

The girls are on the road Friday at Baudette to play the Lake of the Woods Bears, who are 1-7-1. On Saturday they play the Warroad Lakers, the No. 1-ranked Class A team in the state.

SB hockey

The Mariner boys finished fourth in their holiday tournament after falling 8-2 to Moose Lake last week.

The Mariners led 1-0 after one on a Cody Larson goal and the game was tied at one after two. After the Rebels jumped out to a 3-1 lead five minutes into the third period via two power play goals, the roof caved in as the Bay continuously left the back door to their unguarded.

After Shane Billings cut the deficit to 5-2, the Rebels replied with two more goals in the next 25 seconds. Darryl Hansen finished with 32 saves in the Mariner nets.

TH hockey

Two Harbors fell to Simley 5-1 last Wednesday in the fifth-place game of the St. Michael-Albertville Tournament.

Simley took an early 2-0 lead out of the first period and doubled it to make it 4-0 after the second. Simley scored once again in the third before the Agates’ Ben Ruberg could finally put one in (Austyn Wasko and Scott Comrie).

Both teams had 31 shots on goal. Micky Smith had 26 saves for Two Harbors.

“I thought it was a very good tournament for us,” said head coach Steve Wasko. He said there was some tough competition in the tournament and many of the players on the team got some good playing time.

SB girls basketball

The Mariners lost to Tower-Soudan 86-27 in the third-place game of the Ely Holiday Tournament last week.

The Bay came out sluggish in the first half losing it by 28. In the second half, things didn’t turn around for them as they lost that by 31.

Katrina Davis put in 13 for the Mariners while Leigh Lampton scored 10.

On Tuesday, the Mariners lost to Carlton 81-22. Allana Lampton had eight points to go with nine rebounds, while Davis had 10 points with five boards.

“We’re just so inexperienced,” head coach Larry Otterblad said. “We lack team speed. We can’t get out of the 20s.”

The team has yet to win a game this season.

“We’re looking for little things to improve upon,” Otterblad said. “It makes it harder to go to practice.”

SB boys basketball

The Mariners defeated Carlton 59-47 Tuesday.

“We hadn’t played in a couple weeks … [we were] sloppy at the beginning,” said head coach Rick Frericks. He said Carlton was a team they could beat, even though it was away and the Bulldogs gym was much more difficult to play in because it’s smaller.

Luke Thun had a solid game for the Mariners putting in 17 with nine rebounds and three assists (he was 11-15 from the free throw line).

“It was a real physical, grind-it-out game,” Frericks said. He said quite a few fouls were called throughout the game.

Kyle Blood also had 17 points to go along with six boards and three steals. Pat Mitchell had a good all-around game with six points, seven rebounds and five steals. Henry Mitchell had 15 points in the game with three steals.

The team shot 42 percent from the field during the game, which is 11 points above their season average.

TH boys basketball

The Agates lost to McGregor 56-42 Tuesday.

The game was close at the half as Two Harbors was only down by four, but in the second McGregor pulled away outscoring Two Harbors by 10 to claim a victory.

Caleb Hamp-Sill led the team with 15 points while Jon McDannold put in eight (he also hit two three-pointers). Chad Brelie and Alex Horoshak both scored six for Two Harbors.

TH girls basketball

The Agates lost to McGregor 40-32 Monday. McGregor held a seven point lead going into the half, holding Two Harbors off in a tighter second half for the win.

“We are having a really hard time getting out of this slump and getting back into a rhythm,” head coach Brooke Chaffee said. “We were doing things right, pushing the ball and playing tough defense but when it came to converting on the offensive end we just had a really tough time putting the ball in the hoop. (We’re) good shooters, and I know it will turn around.”

Katelyn Adams contributed 11 for the Agates as Nina Bukowski put in 10 and Sierra Tietge had six.

Nordic skiing

The Agates Nordic ski team hosted the Two Harbors Invitational at Korkki Nordic Center Tuesday.

“It is a fun single track classic course which is the only course of its kind that we race on,” said head coach Sara Byrns. “The trail system was started by Charlie Banks, who is a big name in the local and state high school ski community.”

Byrns said the Korkki Nordic Center has started a memorial foundation in honor of Banks. It donates money annually to local high school ski teams.

“More than 230 skiers, representing nine high schools, (raced in) the invite,” she said. “Many parents and community members volunteer their time to make the event a success.”

The boys team had only three scorers, so that team could not qualify for the team standings while the girls team finished third.

Leif Gilsvik was the top finisher on the boys side at No. 10. Kaila Carpenter was the top girls finisher for Two Harbors at No. 13.

Byrns said Karl Mesedahl, a Duluth Central senior, skied on a pair of 40-year-old wood skis that were made for his dad, Gordy, by Charlie Banks.

Tags: two harbors, sports, hockey, basketball, skiing