Bantam Ice Hawks team earns third-place finish at state tourney

Playing in their final hockey tournament of the season the state tournament in Havre the Havre Koefod Bantam's ended a successful season with a third-place finish.

The tournament started with a big win, 10-2, over Missoula.

Ben Erickson scored the first goal of the game for Havre. The score was unassisted. Josh Morse quickly followed suit, with Michael Erickson receiving the assist. Willy Schilling and Brittany Kemmer combined for the third goal of the game with Michael Erickson scoring the fourth unassisted.

Tyson Anderson and Austin Small combined for the fifth score, with Andy Hanson, Anderson, Kemmer and Morse all following with unassisted goals.

Zentmire scored the Bantams final goal of the game with Anderson receiving the assist.

Goalie Mark Larson had 16 saves.

In the Bantam's second game of the tournament, the Billings Bulls skated to a 2-0 win.

Larson had 43 saves in the net.

Trying to bounce back after a tough loss, the Bantams were shut out for the second straight game, losing 2-0 to Gillette.

Larson had 45 saves as goalie.

Coming back in the consolation game, fighting for third place, the Bantams skated to a 3-1 win over Miles City.

Hanson got the Havre team on the scoreboard with the first goal of the game. Morse received the assist.

With a 1-0 lead after the first period, Scott Ladenburg padded the Havre lead with a goal, which was assisted by Ben Erickson. Miles City also scored in the second period, giving the Bantams a 2-1 lead going into the final period of play.

Adding to the lead, Anderson scored Havre's final goal with Ben Erickson receiving the assist.

Larson had 33 saves as goalie in the win.

In an exciting championship game, Gillette defeated Billings 5-4 in double overtime.

Gillette took a 3-0 lead after the first period and led 3-2 after the second. Billings came back to tie the game at 4-all after regulation play ended.

The game was still tied after the first five-minute overtime period. The second overtime was played without goalies. Gillette won the faceoff and skated down the ice for the score and the championship.

In other tournament games Friday, Miles City defeated Bozeman 7-0, Billings won 5-1 over Missoula, Gillette skated to a 7-1 win over Bozeman and Havre won 10-2 over Missoula.

Saturday's games saw Gillette defeating Miles City 1-0, Billings defeated Havre 2-0, Missoula won 4-1 over Bozeman for fifth place, Gillette beat Havre 2-0 and Billings won 3-1 over Miles City.

Sunday, Havre defeated Miles City 3-1 for third place and Gillette defeated Billings 5-4 in double overtime for first place.

Leading up to the state tournament, the Havre Koefod team traveled to Red Cliff Alberta for its final two games of the regular season.

The Bantam team won the first game of the set, 8-6, with the second game ending in a tie at 8-all.

Scoring the first two goals for the Ice Hawks was Morse. Morse's first goal was unassisted with Anderson and Ben Erickson combining on the assist for the second goal.

Also scoring in the second period were Small and Ben Erickson. Ben Erickson's goal was assisted by Ladenburg and Morse.

Hanson started off the third period with two consecutive goals. The first score was unassisted, with Morse assisting the second goal. Anderson followed with his first goal of the game, also assisted by Morse. Shiloh Barrett scored the final Havre goal, with Hanson receiving the assist.

Morse had three assists on the game for a playmaker.

Larson had another strong game as goalie.

Playing the following morning against the same team, the Bantams scored eight more goals, earning a tie.

Hanson racked up five of the eight goals, four of which were unassisted. Hanson's other score was assisted by Ben Erickson. Anderson and Hanson combined for Havre's second goal of the game, with Ben Erickson and Barrett combining on the sixth goal. Hanson got his second assist of the game as Ladenburg followed Ben Erickson's score with a goal of his own.

With his five goals in the game, Hanson earned a hat trick.

Havre was trailing 6-4 going into the final period of play.

Larson stopped 57 shots as goalie.

Earlier in the season, the Bantams traveled to Bozeman, winning two games.

Havre won the first game 9-4 and the second game 7-4.

Anderson had a hat trick, scoring the first, third and final goals of the game for the Bantams. Two of Anderson's goals were unassisted, with Ben Erickson assisting the other one.

Ben Erickson followed Anderson's first score with his lone goal of the game, Hanson had the assist. Zentmire got herself in the scoring spree with an unassisted goal for Havre's fourth.

Hanson followed with two scores, one assisted by Anderson and the other by Morse. Josh Strissel scored the Bantam's sixth goal, with Morse adding another assist. Morse scored Havre's eighth goal with Hanson on the assist.

Larson had 31 saves as goalie.

In the second game the following morning, the Bantam team won with an equal scoring effort by all.

Morse started the Havre scoring with his first goal of the game. Larson, who moved out of his usual goalie position, received the assist on the score. Anderson sent home the Bantam's next score, with Zentmire grabbing the assist.

Strissel and Hanson combined for the third score for the Havre team. Zentmire followed with a score, with Anderson and Zack Musson combining on the assist.

Ben Erickson scored two of Havre's last three goals and received the assist on the other score by Strissel. Ben Erickson's goals were assisted by Morse and Larson.

Moving to goalie, Barrett had 25 saves.