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BEMIDJI -- The Bemidji High School girls hockey team flipped the script on Tuesday night in Grand Rapids.
Facing a Grand Rapids/Greenway team to which they had dropped 9-0 and 7-1 decisions last season, the Lumberjacks fell down 1-0 early. But they countered with two goals of their own, then rode three goals in the third period to a defining 4-2 win.
The victory was Bemidji’s first over the Lightning since 2013 and snapped a 13-game losing skid against GRG.
“They played really well,” BHS head coach Mike Johnson said of his squad. “We started down, but kept fighting.”
Kylie DeBay scored a first-period goal for Grand Rapids/Greenway at 12:45 on the power play, but Kristen McClellan answered for the Jacks in the second period, scoring at 2:52 off assists from Megan Berg and Bailey Rupp.
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In the third period, BHS took a 2-1 lead on Sammy Nistler’s goal at 2:16 off Bella Webb’s assist, but it saw that advantage evaporate when GRG’s Mercury Bischoff scored seconds later at 2:59.
Undeterred, McClellan gave the Lumberjacks a 3-2 edge with her second goal at 12:39, a power-play score assisted by Rupp. Then, with the Lightning (0-1) in desperation mode, Bemidji’s Mali McLean slid the puck into an empty net at 16:57 to seal the final 4-2 margin.
Payton Weidemann stood tall in net for BHS, negating a 25-16 shots-on-goal advantage for GRG by collecting 23 saves. Grand Rapids/Greenway goaltender Samantha Baratto recorded 12 stops.
Now 2-0 this season, the Jacks return home to face Thief River Falls at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Bemidji Community Arena.
Bemidji 4, Grand Rapids/Greenway 2
BHS 0 1 3 -- 4
GRG 1 0 1 -- 2
First period -- 1, GRG GOAL, DeBay (Bischoff, Reed), 12:45, PP.
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Second period -- 2, BHS GOAL, McClellan (Berg, Rupp), 2:52.
Third period -- 3, BHS GOAL, Nistler (Webb), 2:16; 4, GRG GOAL, Bischoff (Reed), 2:59; 5, BHS GOAL, McClellan (Rupp), 12:39, PP; 6, BHS GOAL, McLean (unassisted), 16:57, EN.
Saves -- Weidemann (BHS) 23; Baratto (GRG) 12.
