by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor

Thief River Falls is off to a 1-1 start in boys hockey after splitting a pair of weekend home games against teams from the Twin Cities metro.

On Friday, five different Prowlers scored goals in a 5-1 win over Delano.

Hunter Tabatt broke the scoreless tie with 7:05 left to play in the first period, with Keaden Kempert and Blake Biermaier credited with assists.

Three minutes later, Evan Bushy made it 2-0 in favor of the Prowlers with an assist by Tucker Skime.

The Prowlers bookended the second period with goals. Eight seconds into the period, Brockston Masseth scored a power play goal with Grant Hartmann on the assist. Then, with nine seconds left in the second period Skime scored an unassisted short-handed goal to make it 4-0.

With 12:53 left to play, Kaden Bakken got his name on the stat sheet, scoring a power play goal with assists by Gunnar Fellman and Kempert.

“Getting five different kids to score goals and three scoring their first goals as Prowlers was nice,” said Head Coach Tim Bergland. “Defensively we played well and limited their odd man rushes.”

Delano got on the board with 9:10 left to play to round out the scoring. Bergland was pleased with the performance of Josh Berzinski, who had 21 saves in his first varsity start.

“Josh Berzinski played well getting thrown into the fire over the weekend,” Bergland explained, noting that Noah Rupprecht was expected to start but was scratched due to injuries. “[Josh’s] making a case for himself. Its good to have competition at every position and he gives us some depth.”

On Saturday, Thief River Falls got off to a hot start against Farmington but struggled in the second and third periods in a 2-1 loss. “We played well in the first and limited their opportunities,” Bergland said.

“We got one and maybe could have had another one. Credit them for turning it up a notch and attacking. We got back into it in the third and had a couple of chances to tie the game but came up short.”

Hartmann put the Prowlers up 1-0 with a score that included assists from Skime and Tylan Johnson at the 9:30 mark in the first period.

Farmington, which was limited to just five shots on goal in the first period, got off 13 shots in the second, with a Reed Kadrlik goal tying the game with 11:34 left to play in the period.

A goal by Quinn Rudrud gave Farmington a 2-1 lead with 13:49 left to play.

Bergland said Saturday’s loss is the type that a team can learn from to better prepare for challenging postseason games.

“Talking at their coach, they fully expect to compete at the double A level against Lakeville North for a section title,” Bergland said. “That’s a team that’s as good as anyone we would see in our section. They have three pretty good lines that keep coming and coming at you.”

Section outlook
Thief River Falls received one first place vote and is ranked third in the preseason Section 8A coaches poll released last week on KROX radio in Crookston.

Warroad is the consensus section favorite entering the season, receiving six first place votes. East Grand Forks is second with three first place votes. Crookston and Detroit Lakes are fourth and fifth, respectively in the preseason poll. Rounding out the poll are Kittson County Central in sixth; Lake of the Woods in seventh; Park Rapids in eighth; Red Lake Falls in ninth; and Bagley-Fosston in 10th.

Thief River Falls 5, Delano 1
First period – TRF, Hunter Tabatt (Keaden Kempert, Blake Biermaier) 9:55; TRF – Evan Bushy (Tucker Skime) 12:55.
Second period – TRF, Brockston Masseth (PP) (Grant Hartmann) 0:08; TRF, Skime (SH) 16:51.
Third period – TRF, Kaden Bakken (PP) (Gunnar Fellman, Keaden Kempert) 4:07; Delano, Adam Brown (PP) (Garrett Durst, Jack Keranen) 7:50.
Shots – Delano 6-5-11 – 22; TRF 13-7-9 – 29.
Power plays – Delano 1/5; TRF 2/2.
Penalties – Delano 3 (6 minutes); TRF 6 (15 minutes).
Goalie saves – Delano, Aaron Kruse 24; TRF, Josh Berzinski 21.

Farmington 2, Thief River Falls 1
First period – TRF, Grant Hartmann (Tucker Skime, Tylan Johnson) 9:30
Second period – Farmington, Reed Kadrlik (Ryan Rouleu) 5:26.
Third period – Farmington, Quinn Rudrud (Josh Ask) 3:11.
Shots – Farmington 5-13-9 – 27; TRF 10-2-1 – 13.
Power plays – Farmington 0/2; TRF 0/3. Penalties – Farmington 3 (6 minutes); TRF 2 (4 minutes).
Goalie saves – Farmington, Zacharie Trewick 12; TRF, Josh Berzinski 25.