Town league hockey breaks ice at Big Mine Ice Arena

Bacchanale takes first win under new roof

Big Mine Ice Arena has it all—bright lights, glass, bleachers, penalty boxes, an electronic scoreboard and, of course, a roof.
It’s bright lights, big hockey over there at the new facility.
And after a couple delays to the official opening date, the ice rink was officially christened on Tuesday, January 3 when the Last Steep faced the Bacchanale in the opening game of the 2012 town league hockey season.
Remarkably, not a single PBR was in attendance for the auspicious occasion, at least not that I could see.
Speaking of PBR, Last Steep player James Brennan dressed for the grand opening adorned in a black bow tie.
There were some fans, more than I had seen in a long time, there for the big to-do and the two teams broke the ice in fine fashion.
A quick glimpse of the two rosters had the Last Steep pegged for a blow-out victory and it looked as if it would play out as predicted when Mike Lauerman took a pass from Joe Erickson to score 40 seconds into the game.
But as the two teams settled into the new facility, the game turned into a tight battle, highlighted by Last Steep goalie Zach Vaughter and Bacchanale net minder Andy Winogragow.
The Bacchanale put together a flurry of shots three minutes later but failed to find a seam past Vaughter. The Last Steep countered with consecutive odd man rushes but Winogragow was equally stout in net.
The Bacchanale came out in the second period fired up, having held off the initial Last Steep assault. They fired off a series of shots early, including a one-man run by Tom Collins, but Vaughter continued to deny the back of the net.
Winogragow encored Vaughter’s effort to hold off a handful of Last Steep counterattacks and the Bacchanale finally broke through when David Bright fed Jim Sunday in the slot to tie the game 1-1.
Lauerman broke free out of the neutral zone three minutes later and was on course to score but sneaky Pete Nichols came out of nowhere to break it up. Lauerman recovered to gather the loose puck and fed fellow NoDak all star Erickson for a 2-1 Last Steep lead.
The Bacchanale opened the third period hot once again and tied the game when Eric Dishmon scored off a rebound from a Collins shot. Jay Sunter anchored the Bacchanale defense with near-perfect position play, but Lauerman struck once again when he skated in from the blue line to beat Winogragow to the low corner and return the lead to the Last Steep.
The Bacchanale came charging back in the final four minutes of the game, holding tight at the blue line and battling to clear the puck from their zone.
After threatening all game long, Bacchanale player Nathan Lacy finally came through when he took the puck behind the Last Steep net and found Dishmon in the slot for his second goal of the game, tying it up 3-3.
The two teams traded rushes on net but some aggressive fore-checking by the Bacchanale proved the ultimate difference in the game.
As the Last Steep circled around their net for another breakout, Sunday stripped the puck off the unsuspecting Last Steep defenseman and stuffed it past Vaughter for the game-winning goal with 42 seconds left in regulation.
Town league is now in full swing with games every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 and 8:45 p.m. and Wednesdays at 8:45 p.m.