Rangers advance to state semis with overtime win

SIOUX FALLS — The Brookings Rangers boys varsity hockey team opened their state tournament run with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over Sioux Falls West to punch their ticket to the state semifinals.

Down 2-1 in the waning minutes, Brookings coach Garrett Gerstner pulled goaltender Neil Trygstad in favor of the extra attacker, and the Rangers made it work when Jay Harris banged home a loose puck after a goalmouth scramble with 1:07 to play.

Feeling the momentum, Brookings got the winner just 1:11 into the extra session when Jason Ready got a stick on a high shot from the point by Caleb Johnson deflected it into the net below the Sioux Falls netminder’s glove.

Gerstner said he was happy to see his team get rewarded with a pair of effort goals and, ultimately, the win.

“We had a little bit of a nervous start it felt like, and their first two were a couple unfortunate bounces. I didn’t think we were playing too bad,” Gerstner said.

“But we have been preaching it all year — hard work just cannot be replaced. Get it below the dots, go low to high and then someone has to get to the front of the net.”

On the game tying goal, the someone was Harris, who worked for position in front of the net for entire time after Brookings pulled its goalie with a little less than three minutes to play and a faceoff in the the Sioux Falls West zone. 

A shot from out high hit traffic in front and Harris was able to spin and fire it low and home to send the game to the extra session.

“It wasn’t going to be a tic-tac-toe,” Gerstner said. “They have some big, strong defensemen that make it tough out front, but we found a way.”

The Rangers initially fell behind 1-0 with 7:52 remaining in the first. But the next shift, the Rangers cycled the puck down low and put sustained pressure on the West defense. The line of Jack Lovseth centering Waylon Carroll and Carson Kludt came back to score on their next shift and change the tenor of the game.

“They were rock solid all night,” Gerstner said. “And that was a late decision, we had some kids out, but they played phenomenal. They brought that Ranger attitude and intensity we talk about.”

Lovseth scored that goal assisted by Kludt and defenseman Johnson.

Sioux Falls West got the only goal of the second, setting up the late-game heroics from the Rangers. They outshot Brookings 13-6 in the middle frame.

The Rangers also got a strong goaltending performance from Neil Trygstad, who turned away 24 of 26 West shots in earning the win.

“You have to get solid goaltending and we have full faith in Neil,” Gerstner said. “He gave us a really good performance tonight.”

The assists on Harris’ goal with the net empty went to Nolan Krogman and Talon Hyde. Just before that tally, West took a shot at the empty net that narrowly missed, hitting the outside of the far post for an icing.

Sioux Falls elected not to use a timeout, and sent fresh skaters out there against the Brookings six, who had been out for more than a minute on the clock at that point.

The Rangers move on to face the winner of the game between top-seeded Rushmore and eight-seeded Watertown in tomorrow’s second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls.

In the other semifinal, seventh-seeded Aberdeen — who upset Sioux Falls East 4-2 — faces third-seeded Yankton, who needed a big comeback to beat Oahe, 6-3.

“We’ll tweak some things we saw in film tomorrow, but for the most part, the work has been done,” Gerstner said. “That was a step in the right direction, though. Just a good lesson for our guys — hard work cannot be replaced.”

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@gmail.com