Bismarck High & Bismarck Century Hockey...Instant Classic!

I had the pleasure of doing color commentary for the cross-town rivalry hockey game between Bismarck High and Bismarck Century last night at VFW Sports Arena. Townsquare Media Sports Director Rob Meltzer was on the call, and the atmosphere was electric! The game was heard on our sister station Super Talk 1270 and supertalk1270.com !

Two teams going in different directions and on paper this should've been a decisive Century victory. After all, BHS had lost 5 in a row and CHS had won 7 of their last 9. Century also blew out Bismarck High in the previous meeting this season 8-4. However, that's why they play the game.

The Demons have been decimated by injures this season. They have only 4 kids that have played in all 19 games this year. In comparison, Century has 8 skaters who have played in every game.

BHS goaltender Quinn Ackerman was brilliant making point blank stop after stop early in the game and kept the game scoreless after one. The Demons got on the board first when Sophomore forward Hunter Acker scored a power play goal early in the second to give the BHS a 1-0 lead.

Century’s Colton Schulte missed a wide-open net at 8:55 but at 9:43 of the second, Austin Wald spotted up in front of the net on a power play, and left unchecked, one-timed a pass from Schulte past Ackerman.

Four minutes later Century’s Alex Samardzic pounced on a rebound out front -- again unchecked -- to give the Patriots a 2-1 lead.

Schulte got another chance in the third period and this time he didn’t miss. With a mass of bodies between he and Ackerman, Schulte shot high at 7:18 to make it 3-1.

The cushion lasted all of 18 seconds before Bismarck’s Remington Richardson, another sophomore scored on the Demons’ next rush up ice.

At 11:50, Mark Horner scored on the power play to complete the comeback and Ackerman stood tall down the stretch to keep the game tied. He made a stop from in close with 1:30 to play and stopped a blast by Cullen Curl as time ran out, sending the game to overtime.

Ackerman made two big stops at 5:25 of the extra session, but at 5:34, Hanson put a shot on goal that was directed to the side where Reimer was waiting to turn and shoot in one motion.

That's how it ended...A 4-3 nail biter win for Bismarck Century. The two teams are more than likely on a collision course to meet again at next weeks WDA tournament. The top 4 teams from the west will advance to state at Scheels Arena in Fargo on Feb 27th, 28th & 29th.

Super Talk 1270am will have coverage of the WDA tournament. High School hockey in North Dakota. There's nothing like it.