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Magi hockey closes out regular season with a shutout

Alex Eisen/MDN Minot High junior Jack Plemel (12) skates away from Bottineau/Rugby skater Adam Handeland (5) in a West Region boys hockey game Thursday at Maysa Arena.

With the postseason on the horizon, the Minot High School boys hockey team is starting to play some of its best hockey this season.

The Magicians (10-10-0, 8-6-0 West Region) picked up their sixth win in seven games Thursday evening, as they closed out the regular season with a 7-0 home victory over Bottineau/Rugby (4-11-0, 1-10-0 West Region) at Maysa Arena.

“With five games left in the region, our goal was to win all five,” MHS co-head coach Jason Bennett said. “We felt that gave us the best shot to get the No. 3 seed (in the West Region Tournament) and with a little help from Bismarck High on Saturday, that’s a goal we will achieve, hopefully. We are in a good spot right now.”

The Magi didn’t mess around on Thursday. Sophomore Aiden Morelli scored the first goal on a near-post shot 27 seconds in, and junior Jack Plemel added an unassisted goal 45 seconds later.

Unable to maintain the absurd pace of scoring a goal every minute, Minot took its 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

“We haven’t scored the first goal often but, when we do, we are a different team,” Bennett said. “You score two in the first two minutes and you are thinking, ‘Who knows, we may get to 11 (goals) again.’ But, then it kind of slowed down. I think we kind of stalled on the power play. Bottineau did a good job of getting a stick in the passing lanes. We scored on our quality chances, but they took away a lot of quality chances. The score is not indicative, but they played pretty well in their own zone.”

Minot High knocked off Williston, 11-1, on Tuesday. It’s the only time they have reached double-digit goals this season.

Sophomore Isaiah Thongphet, two days after netting his first high school varsity goal against Williston, found the back of the net again Thursday to score Minot’s only goal in the second period, 3-0.

Bottineau/Rugby was limited to three shots on goal in each of the first two periods. MHS goaltender Tre’ Sortland only had to make one more save in the third period for his second shutout of the season.

“Tre’ (Sortland) stepped up and the made the saves when he needed to,” Bennett said. “We haven’t been in our own zone a lot lately, but that’s something we are really going to focus on in practice next week. It starts in your own end and we know we can score now.”

In eerily similar fashion to the first period, Minot scored two quick goals to open the third period.

The first, another near-post finish — this one coming from Nick Murphy 51 seconds into the period. Then, Plemel scored his second goal of the game off a rebound in front.

Murphy doubled up three minutes later, giving Minot a 6-0 lead with a running clock. But, the crafty forward wasn’t finished. Murphy intercepted a pass in the middle of the ice and fired in another goal for a third-period hat trick. Payton Philion assisted both goals.

“It didn’t seem like (Murphy) had a ton of energy — right away in the beginning of the game we got two quick ones and sometimes guys let off,” Bennett said. “But, it was good to see him step it up in the third (period). The kid can shoot the puck. When he gets the puck in the slot, he can score about every time.”

The Magi outshot the Braves, 51-7, and had five times more quality scoring chances, 15-3.

Coming up, Minot hosts the West Region Tournament next weekend (Feb. 14-16) at Maysa Arena.

The Magi will have to wait for the result of the Jamestown at Bismarck High contest, which was postponed Thursday and will be played Saturday, to determine if Minot will get the No. 3 or No. 4 seed at the West Region Tournament. Jamestown would need a win to surpass Minot for the No. 3 seed.

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

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