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Friday, February 2, 2007

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BHS stonewalls Jacks

Snider stops 19 in net for Warriors

By MIKE BIALKA

Sports Editor

Landon Snider rises to the occasion virtually every time.

The Brainerd senior goalie turned in another sturdy effort Thursday night, particularly in the final 66 seconds, as the Warriors held off the Bemidji Lumberjacks for a 2-1 victory at Brainerd Area Civic Center.

Brainerd took two penalties in the final 1:06 although one was a coincidental minor. But it still put the onus on Snider as the Lumberjacks pulled goalie Derek Dudgeon for extra attackers. Snider made at least three saves as Bemidji enjoyed 6-on-4 and 5-on-4 advantages.

Brainerd's Julius Tamasy (7) was congratulated by teammates Bronson Shepard and Tyler Monda (right) after scoring in the second period Thursday at the Brainerd Area Civic Center.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist

"It was the most pressure they got in the game," Snider said. "They kept going, I just had to stay strong, and the team had to stay strong.

"(The penalties) kind of helped us out because it gave us a chance to ice the puck but I had to step up, play my game, make the big save."

It was the fourth straight gaame that Snider has played with contacts since recovering from an eye ulcer.

"I had nine-day contacts so I slept in them like every day," he said. "Then I got an eye ulcer, about five of them on my eye. I couldn't wear contacts for about a month and a half so I had to wear glasses. My mom rushed me down to St. Cloud before the Grand Rapids game to get some goggles. They fogged up a lot, but I got through it.

The key: Goalie Landon Snider shut out the Lumberjacks for the last 34-plus minutes.

Overall: Bem 10-10-1, Brd 13-6-1

Next: Brainerd at Moorhead 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

» WE SPOTTED: Snider stops 19 40+ photos!

"With contacts it's a lot brighter. You can see a lot more. You have a lot more peripheral vision. There's no more fogging up."

Snider backstopped the Warriors to their fifth straight win in a game disrupted by 21 penalties. Brainerd killed off seven Lumberjacks power plays.

"We told the kids at the end of the game we've got to learn from this and understand that when we're frustrated and we're taking penalties we're not playing well," Warriors coach Ty Eigner said. "If you look at either the periods or games we've played well, we're just playing. We're going up and down the rink, we're moving pucks, we're getting chances. For us to take that many penalties is never a good thing.

"We've got to remember Bemidji wants to win just as bad as we do. They're going to come in here and do what they think they need to do to win the game. So at the end of the day you take the positives like you only gave up one goal. We had some good chances early but we won the game. Our penalty kill was good so we got a chance to work on that tonight anyway."

Brainerd forward Jack Freeman moved the puck at center ice Thursday at the Brainerd Area Civic Center.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist

The Warriors' Julius Tamasy scored the eventual game-winner at 9:02 of the second. Bronson Shepherd passed from behind the net to Tamasy, who snapped it past Dudgeon.

Bemidji's Dylan Wizner tied it 1-1 when he scored from Snider's left with 20.5 seconds left in the first.

Blake Smith had given the Warriors a 1-0 edge at 5:26 of the first with his first goal of the season. Deep in the Bemidji zone, Smith took a pass from Austin Shiltz and beat Dudgeon.

"The way we started the game was awesome," Eigner said. "I don't know that Bemidji got out of their end the first five minutes. As the game wore on maybe our kids thought, OK, we're going to play in their end, it will be a lot of fun, we might get some points tonight.

"Then we allowed Bemidji to affect us mentally. We started to take some penalties. We got frustrated. It went from a game that had some flow and us being able to dictate play to now it's a penalty on them, a penalty on us. That never plays into our hands."

Brainerd forward Sam Holland (right) fought for a loose puck Thursday at the Brainerd Area Civic Center.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist

Bemidji 1 0 0 - 1

Brainerd 1 1 0 - 2

First period: Brd-Blake Smith (Austin Shiltz, Colby Ring) 5:26; Bem-Dylan Wizner (Noah Nemgar, Ryan Johnson) 16:40

Second period: Brd-Julius Tamasy (Bronson Shepherd, Tyler Monda) 9:02

Third period: No scoring

Shots on goal: Bem 6-8-6-20, Brd 12-10-14-36

Goalies: Bem-Derek Dudgeon (34 saves), Brd-Landon Snider (19 saves)

Power-play opportunities: Bem 0-7, Brd 0-8

Mike Bialka can be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.

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