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Stout defense, Flom’s hat trick propels Minot over the Midgets

Alex Eisen/MDN Majettes freshman Dessa Flom (2) chips the puck into the offensive zone Saturday against Dickinson. Flom recorded a hat trick in a 4-0 victory for Minot High.

For a second consecutive outing, the Minot High School girls hockey team unleashed 44 shots on goal and were impenetrable on defense to put up a shutout.

After shutting down Mandan 2-0 on Thursday, the Majettes (14-5-0, 12-5-0 N.D. League) did much of the same to the Dickinson Midgets (4-11-0, 3-10-0 N.D. League) on Saturday for a 4-0 victory at Maysa Arena.

“Our defense has been doing a great job of taking care of the front of the net,” MHS assistant coach Jason Steele said. “One of our biggest focuses has been to eliminate the quality scoring chances from the other team by keeping their shots to the outside or from up top. That will give our goalies a better chance to save (the puck) and cover it up.”

Offensively, freshman Dessa Flom netted a hat trick for the Majettes with a goal in each period. She leads Minot with 19 goals on the season.

“No, I just get nervous before games and that’s happened my whole life,” Flom said about feeling any extra pressure as a freshman and leading the team in scoring. “It feels pretty good (to get a hat trick). It’s big. We needed the points to get up on the board to get the momentum for the game.”

Following the first penalty called against the Midgets, MHS junior Lindsey Larson tapped in an unassisted power play goal to open the scoring. The Majettes continued to pour on the pressure from there.

Dickinson finally managed to get its first shot on goal with 2:49 left in the first period, which was calmly covered up senior goaltender Jadin Flexhaug. The Majettes won the ensuing face off, raced down the ice and Flom capped the furious 14-second rush with an assist coming from Larson.

Minot High outshot Dickinson 16-4 in the opening stanza and led 2-0 at the first break. Shots on goal at the end of the game favored Minot heavily at 44-10.

“When you win four to nothing, it’s tough to say you want more,” Steele said. “But every coach kind of wants more, you know. Yeah, we would have liked to get a few more than four (goals), especially with 44 shots. But, their goalie did a good job and they did the same thing that we were trying to do by keeping our shots to the outside.”

The second period was a defensive stalemate until 1:30 left to go. Flom found enough room to maneuver through center ice to reach Dickinson’s goaltender Baylee Kram and then flipped the puck up and over Kram’s right shoulder for her second goal of the game. The assists going to Parker Larson and Lindsey Larson.

Flom’s hat-trick goal came with 6:18 remaining in the third period and was unassisted. After winning a puck battle near the boards, she skated uncontested to the front of the net and buried the puck home between Kram’s pads.

“Dessa (Flom) has a motor and she goes,” Steele said. “You very rarely have to tell her, ‘Hey, you got to get going and move your feet.’ She’s got a knack for the back of the net and she likes to have the puck on her stick.”

Kram made 40 saves in defeat. While Flexhaug only had to make 10 saves to get the shutout, as Minot’s defense did its best to make her afternoon as easy as possible by keeping the puck in Dickinson’s defensive zone.

“We are really good at pinching to keep the puck in their zone,” Majettes sophomore defender Madie Olson said. “We are getting a lot of shots recently and doing a good job of keeping (the puck) in.”

The Majettes have two more home games this season at Maysa Arena. Next week, Minot will host Fargo North on Friday at 5 p.m. and then welcomes West Fargo the next night on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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