Capitals split weekend pair

By Josh Linehan
Capital Journal Staff
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 - 12:05:36 am CST

PIERRE — It seems certain to be a wild year for South Dakota hockey.

The Pierre Capitals managed to keep themselves in a strong position over the weekend, splitting a pair of games against two of the other top contenders.

The Caps lost at Brookings on Saturday night, 3-0, before breaking through for a bunch of goals in an 8-6 win over Watertown on Sunday.

“Altogether, you’d have to consider it a successful weekend,” Caps coach Rob Kittay said. “We played two of the better teams in the state and we split with them.”

The split moves the Capitals to 4-1 in league play, keeping them in good position in the loss column.

Against Brookings on Friday, Pierre had its chances, but couldn’t solve Rangers goaltender Dylan Winthers, who turned away all 32 Caps shots to earn the shutout.

“We skated well, we played pretty well, we just didn’t put the puck in the net,” Kittay said. “It was a good high school hockey game.”

Coby Larson had a hat trick to provide all the offense Brookings would need. Cody Bishop made 22 saves for Pierre.

The Capitals shots found the corners against Watertown on Sunday, as the two teams battled back and forth until Pierre took the lead for good late in the third and added an empty-netter for an 8-6 win.

Josh Rogers got Pierre on the board in the first, and Garrett Weber added a powerplay goal off a feed from Brandon Heckenlaible. But the Lakers bounced back to tie things at 2 early in the second period.

Stephen Bollinger then scored back-to-back unassisted goals to put the Caps up 4-2.

But Watertown again rallied for two goals in the final 2:16 of the second to tie the game.

Andy Zarecky and Jacob Parsons netted goals for the Capitals, each answered by Watertown. With the game tied at 6, Joe Wieseler got the game winner off a pass from Max Hanson with just over two minutes to play.

Hanson would add the empty netter, unassisted. Bishop made 19 saves in the win.

The Capitals are off through Christmas, then travel to Paynesville to play in a tournament beginning Monday night. The Caps play Luverne in the first round at 6 p.m.

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