Jan. 24—BEMIDJI — Before the Bemidji High School boys hockey team’s game against Detroit Lakes Saturday, Derek Kringen was honored at center ice for the fourth annual Hockey Fights Cancer day at the Bemidji Community Arena.
He was unable to attend because of cancer treatment in Fargo, but his son, senior defenseman Eli Kringen, was touched by the team honoring his father.
“Mr. Kringen is going through something that I wish nobody would go through,” BHS head coach Ben Kinne said. “Even his family, it’s hard. I can see it a lot of times on his son’s face. When days are good, things are good. When days are bad, it affects everybody.
“For us, it’s trying to keep him positive. Give him any support that he might need. It’s never easy, but he knows he has a team behind him.”
With special Minnesota Hockey Fights Cancer patches adorning the chest of Lumberjack players, both the boys and girls teams auctioned off items, with all proceeds going to the Joe Lueken Cancer Center.
“Like I told the kids before the game, it doesn’t matter who you are,” Kinne said. “Somebody’s touched by cancer somehow. Whether it’s a friend, family member, somebody you know, teacher, it’s always important to have those things in mind and help those people.”
The BHS boys played the first game of the doubleheader. While the girls followed their game with a 5-2 win against St. Cloud, the boys didn’t get the result they wanted.
Detroit Lakes picked up its first win over Bemidji in almost 19 years, and it did it in dramatic fashion.
Lakers senior Easton Kennedy improbably found the back of the net with 9.6 seconds on the clock to give DL its first lead of the game, 4-3.
Kennedy battled through BHS defensemen before slipping the puck past goaltender J.D. Wood’s shoulder. It was his fourth point of the game, scoring two goals and two assists.
“For whatever reason, we’re having a really hard time putting teams away,” Kinne said. “Even when we’re in games, we can’t get that next goal. It’s something we’re going to have to learn real quick. Otherwise, our season won’t last very long.”
The first period couldn’t have started better for BHS. One minute and 25 seconds into the game, junior Camden Bentfield buried a juicy rebound given up by Detroit Lakes goaltender Griffin Lindberg. Sophomore Chase Fairchild tipped a shot from the point nine minutes later to make it 2-0 Jacks after the first.
After a high-flying start to the second period, Kennedy scored on a breakaway to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Just before the period ended, Wood thought he had the puck covered, but DL senior Lawsen Justesen found it and scored into an open net to tie the game at 2-2.
The Jacks had multiple chances to add to their lead in the second, but couldn’t capitalize thanks to blocked shots and missing the net.
“That just comes down to focus,” Kinne said. “For me, it’s a frustrating thing because we talk about it all the time. You want them to be better. When you’re shooting, you just got to give yourself a chance to score. If we’re missing the net or putting uncompetitive shots on goal, it’s not going to work in our favor.”
The Lumberjacks (8-9-1) seemed to find their footing in the third period, with sophomore Cameron Knott taking advantage of a Lindberg rebound to reclaim the lead 3-2. They held onto that lead for over 11 minutes before Carter Whitworth tied it for DL with a 6-on-5 goal. Kennedy scored the game-winner two minutes later.
“If you saw in the second and third, there were instances where all of a sudden we’re doing things that we don’t work on,” Kinne said. “It ends up costing us. …(And) on the 6-on-5, we lose a clean faceoff. You just can’t lose it clean. Those are all those things that add up.”
Detroit Lakes 4, Bemidji 3
DL 0 2 2 — 4
BHS 2 0 1 — 3
First period — BHS GOAL: Bentfield (Niemi, Prokop) 1:25; BHS GOAL: Fairchild (Graber, L. Knott) 10:18.
Second period — DL GOAL: Kennedy (Braaten) 11:08; DL GOAL: Justesen (Kennedy) 15:57.
Third period — BHS GOAL: C. Knott (Graber, L. Knott) 3:52; DL GOAL: Whitworth (Kennedy, Pettit) 14:50; DL GOAL: Kennedy (Pettit) 16:51.
Saves: Wood (BHS) 19; (DL) Lindberg (DL) 31.
