Witzke, the Marauders’ captain, had three factors, Garrett Freeman netted two objectives and Kyle Hayden stopped 30 of 31 pictures in a 4-1 win over Dakota School-Bottineau at Starion Sports activities Complicated in Mandan.

Solely a 45-save efficiency from Lumberjacks goalie Mason Matthew saved the Marauders from hanging an enormous crooked quantity on the board.

“It felt good to be again on the market,” stated Witzke, who scored the Marauders’ first purpose and assisted on two others. “It was good to have a number of weeks to type of take it straightforward. I skilled and labored out to take care of, however it’s a lengthy season. We like it and it is a ton of enjoyable, however to have the ability to type of recharge I feel was good for everyone.”

The Lumberjacks beat the Marauders 5-3 within the remaining sport for each groups earlier than the vacation break in Bottineau on Dec. 10. 

There was little down time for Marauders head coach Dan Huntley, who continues to double as the college’s interim athletic director.

“There are occasions in life when you need to work arduous and for me, that is a type of occasions,” Huntley stated. “I do take pleasure in it. I work with nice people who find themselves dedicated to our college, and naturally, I like the youngsters in our hockey program. They make it enjoyable to return to work day-after-day.”

The win Wednesday night time was the twenty first in 26 video games for the two-time defending ACHA D2 champions.

“I really feel like we’re on monitor. Clearly, the bar is basically excessive. We take pleasure in that and embrace it, however I feel large image, we have performed nicely,” Witzke stated. “With our staff, we’re not going to ever actually be happy. We like the place we’re at, however after all we will proceed to enhance and we’ve to.”

The Marauders jumped in entrance shortly.

After killing off a penalty within the opening minute of the sport, the house staff capitalized on prolonged zone time — a continuing theme of the night time. Tucker Kruse gained management between the circles and located Witzke open within the left slot. Witzke one-timed an ideal top-shelf shot over the precise shoulder of Matthew for a 1-0 lead at 4:08 mark of the primary interval. Alex Flicek additionally was awarded an help on the purpose. 

Witzke was concerned within the Marauders’ second purpose as they doubled the lead late within the interval.

Skating 4-on-4, the BHS and Bismarck Bobcat alum went coast-to-coast, however his shot was stopped by Matthew. Tanner Eskro acquired a whack at a rebound, however that too was stoned. The puck fell to Garrett Freeman, who wrapped round completely and tucked the puck previous Matthew for a 2-0 lead.

“I believed we began out fairly nicely. With the break, you are still type of looking for your legs just a little bit. However credit score Bottineau. They are a good staff they usually at all times play arduous,” Witzke stated. 

The Marauders needed to kill off a brief 5-on-3 Lumberjacks benefit later within the second interval to maintain the lead at 2-0. Hayden was busy early, stopping all 13 pictures he noticed within the first interval. 

The Lumberjacks minimize the lead in half towards the run of play.

After the puck was pinned within the Bottineau zone for the practically your complete first 4 minutes of the second interval, the Lumberjacks had been in a position to lastly escape. Riley Rybchinski drove the puck up the ice earlier than discovering Leighton Holstein with open ice. Holstein related clear and whistled it previous Hayden 5:54 into the second interval.

“That is how they play. They’re scrappy. They play arduous. You are not going to have a straightforward sport towards Bottineau,” Huntley stated. “I believed we did loads of good issues, however once you’re coming off an extended break, you are not going to be as sharp as you’re sometimes, however general, a superb efficiency by our guys.”

The Marauders shelled Matthew with 20 pictures within the second interval and at last acquired one by way of within the closing seconds.

Preliminary pictures by Flicek and Cyril Nagurski had been stopped, however the second rebound fell to Bismarck Excessive grad Caleb Petrie, who was in a position to poke it by way of a small gap to make it 3-1 54 seconds earlier than the horn. 

Freeman, the Marauders’ main purpose scorer final season, capped the scoring together with his second tally of the night time on the facility play within the third interval. Eskro and Witzke acquired assists on the purpose at 11:36 of the third.

Defensively, the Marauders killed off one other 5-on-3 within the third interval.

“It is good to see Garrett get a pair. If we will get him and Seth (Cushing) going — these two guys are actually gifted and have scored loads of objectives for us — that is solely going to make us higher,” stated Huntley, who additionally highlighted first-year ahead Jake Murray for robust play towards the Lumberjacks. “I believed our fourth line performed actually, rather well. We’re nonetheless engaged on issues, looking for the perfect combos. The nice factor is, we’ve loads of high quality gamers to select from.”

The Marauders return from the vacation break with a busy stretch, that includes 4 video games in six days. After assembly Waldorf (Iowa) for video games on Friday and Saturday in Albert Lea, Minn., they head to Nebraska to play Midland on Monday for a 2 p.m. matinee. 

“We’ll be examined,” Huntley stated. “Our guys are excited concerning the schedule we’ve developing within the second half of the season.”