I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Jan. 17, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The Bemidji girls' hockey team scored first and last but not enough in a 4-2 loss to the No. 8-ranked Duluth Dynamite Saturday afternoon at John Glas Fieldhouse.
The Jacks' effort improved over an earlier performance at Duluth in which they lost 4-0, but they couldn't contain the Dynamite's Tresa Lamphier who scored all four goals for Duluth.
Take away her efforts and the Lumberjacks come away with a win.
"Lamphier can bury the puck. She's a dominating force," Duluth coach Jack Shearer said. "I would expect she will be a Miss Hockey candidate, with her skating ability and her scoring ability."
But other than Duluth's dynamo, the Jacks played a defensively sound game, according to coach Rick Coe.
They only gave up 18 shots on goal the entire game, and were never completely out of contention for winning it.
The Jacks' Meghan Hopps broke open the scoring at the 7:28 mark in the first period, taking an Erin Sullivan backhanded feed from the side of the net and stuffing it home above Duluth's Sanya Sandahl's glove.
Carrie Miller also was credited with an assist.
Duluth tied the game about three minutes later, when Lamphier beat Bemidji's Monica Swedmark with a slapshot from the faceoff circle.
The Dynamite took the lead three minutes later when Lamphier took an almost-two-line pass from Leah Wrazido, skated around three Lumberjacks and slammed another passed Swedmark from the slot.
About halfway through the second, Lamphier extended Duluth's lead to 3-1 with a smoking slapshot from the slot passed Swedmark.
Earlier in the period, Hopps made some fancy moves of her own, earning her a one-on-one to the net, but she was stopped cold by Sundahl, ending the Jacks' best scoring chance in the period.
Each team added a goal third, making the final 4-2.
Duluth's came on another Lamphier breakaway and Bemidji's an unassited goal by Crystal Sorenson late in the game.
"Obviously, you'd like to win, but we outshot them and at times outplayed them. I think we played three very strong periods," Coe said of his team's effort. "We had a tough time shutting down their big gun, and that was probably the difference."
"B" Team
The Jacks "B" team posted its second victory in as many weeks versus the first-year Park Rapids varsity.
Playing at Nymore Gardens, Bemidji spanked the Panthers 7-2, with Betsy Hoody and Kristen Gregg scoring four points apiece.
Hoody had two goals and two assists, while Gregg had one goal and three assists.
Megan Dokken added two goals, and Jen Quistgaard had one apiece.
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