The Oahe Capitals would be on the road Friday through Sunday to close out the regular season falling to Brookings on Friday 4-1, Sioux Falls on Sunday 4-3, but beating Watertown 4-3 on Saturday.
The Capitals took an early 1-0 lead on Friday on the road in Brookings as Dylan Dodson would stuff in the games first goal, but the Rangers would overpower the Capitals scoring the next four goals, including an empty netter to seal the win as Brookings finishes the year at 21-1. Spencer Andreson made 31 saves in net as he was sharp allowing only three true goals against. The Caps went 0-3 on the powerplay while Brookings finished 2-3.
Saturday, the Capitals would hang on for a one goal win to secure the five seed heading into the final day of the season. Jarron Beck would get the fist goal of the game in the second period of the second ever varsity game at the new Ice Arena. Beck would score again to give the Caps a 2-1 lead and Devin Dodson would make it 3-1 after two periods. Aiden Dozark would help seal the win making it a 4-2 score late in the third. After Watertown pulled within one at 4-3, the Caps were able to kill off 30 seconds of a 6-on-4 attack to beat the Lakers. Anderson would get the win in net with a 22 save night.
Then on Sunday, the Caps would travel to Sioux Falls facing West to close the season. Oahe would take the lead first with a Barret Schweitzer goal, but a last minute goal in the first tied the game at 1-1 and West would score twice early in the second to lead 3-1. Dozark would pull the Caps within 3-2 but it would be the Flyers again scoring early in the third and even though it was matched quickly by Beck to pull within 4-3, Oahe never found the tying goal in the final 14 and a half minutes of the third period. Anderson made an incredible 40 saves in net for the Caps as the season ends with a 12-8-1-1 record and a fifth seed heading into the state tournament.
Oahe will open the state tournament against Sioux Falls East, the four seed, on Friday, March 8 in Brookings. Puck drop is at 2:00 as all 11 games of the boys and girls state varsity tournaments will be on Capital City Rock and on YouTube at Capital City Rock Sports.
