Lacy’s Construction adjusts Bliss Chiropractic

Worst almost beats first

By Than Acuff

Much like our current administration, Lacy’s Construction continues to impose unfettered power as they skated to a 6-3 win over Bliss Chiropractic Thursday, February 6 at Big Mine Ice Arena to remain at the top of the A/B town league hockey standings.

It was a dubious lead up to the game as the current spate of warm weather was wreaking havoc on the Big Mine ice sheet, but the rink crew remained diligent in their efforts to make the surface playable for the big game and while Bliss sits winless at the bottom of the standings, they made a game of it, until they couldn’t.

It helped that Bliss had a former inline professional hockey player from Minnesota in Jake Andersen on their roster for the game. Andersen follows in the footsteps of Chris and Mike Eaton who made a splash on the local hockey scene years ago with their long pants causing me to speculate they, too, were former inline hockey players before taking over the local hockey scene. Though they both deny that fake news.

But that was then, and this is now and Bliss, with the help of Andersen, tested Lacy’s Construction’s limits through the first two periods. Lacy’s did strike first as they took control of the game early on with defenseman Cosmo Langsfeld holding the blue line to help set up Henry Hodde for his goal 90 seconds into the game.

But what felt like an impending blow out soon turned into a game as Bliss’ efforts defensively and the work of goalie Al Sedaghat set them up for odd man rushes up ice. While their first series of attempts were turned away by goalie Ryan Houseman, they finally broke the seal during a powerplay in the seventh minute. Joe Komatz got close as his shot smacked off the post but Bliss’ patience on the powerplay remained and paid off when Billy Watson scored off an assist from Mike Morgan to tie the game 1-1.

Bliss would keep pushing the pace and took the lead four minutes into the second period as Andersen took a pass from Watson and after a series of deft moves, picked the far post for a 2-1 Bliss lead. That lead lasted just one minute though as Lacy’s struck back when Sam Kay set up Hodde for his second goal of the game.

Houseman and Sedaghat then traded off a series of saves to keep the game tight and the efforts of Lacy’s defenseman Carter Brock helped to stymie continued odd man rushes by Bliss. Joe Coburn had been relatively silent for Lacy’s through the first period but was merely biding his time to find the right moment to strike and he found that moment in the final two minutes of the second period as he scored and then assisted Chris Leavitt on his goal for a 4-2 Lacy’s lead.

The short Bliss bench then took its toll as Lacy’s continued to push in the third period and took a 5-2 lead as Brock assisted Leavitt on his second goal of the evening. Bliss did get one more as the work of Morgan and Andersen set up Collin Dill on the doorstep for a goal, but Kay had the final say scoring off an assist from Brock for the 6-3 Lacy’s Construction win.