Overtime? No, it shouldn't have been a surprise.

After all, that's what happens more often that not when Moorhead and Bemidji get together for a boys' hockey game. So it was Tuesday night at the Moorhead Sports Center, where the Spuds' Jack Fahrendorf scored with 3:08 remaining in overtime to lead Moorhead (8-7-0) to an important 3-2 victory over the visiting Lumberjacks (11-2-2).

"We knew tonight's game and Thursday's game (against Brainerd) were huge for us," said Fahrendorf, whose goal avenged an earlier loss at Bemidji and kept the Spuds in the thick of the Class 2A, Section 8 seeding conversation with just over a month to go in the regular season.

On the winning play, Fahrendorf picked up the puck and showed the patience of an upperclassman who has been in plenty of big-game situations. As the Lumberjacks defenseman dropped to stop a potential pass, Fahrendorf instead pulled the puck around and fired a sharp-angle shot high to the short side on goaltender Matt Fitzgerald.

"We got caught in overtime," Bemidji coach Wade Chiodo said. "We were kind of scrambling."

Moorhead was playing a young group against the Lumberjacks, with three sophomores (goaltender Lance Leonard and forwards Carter Randklev and Cole O'Connell) in the starting lineup, and another couple of youngsters playing regular minutes as the game went along.

"Those are great experiences for those kids to learn how to win and learn how to play right," Spuds coach Jon Ammerman said.

But it was a senior — Fahrendorf — who made the biggest impact.

The Moorhead veteran broke a team-wide scoreless drought of 178 minutes, 29 seconds against Bemidji, scoring on a looping deflection with 1:08 to play in the first period.

Until Fahrendorf's goal, the Spuds hadn't scored in more than 10 full periods against the Lumberjacks. Jacob Odegard tallied the last Moorhead goal against Bemidji, late in the second period of a Dec. 2, 2014 loss — five head-to-head games ago.

Fahrendorf's first goal seemed to relax the Spuds, who had lost four straight games to the Lumberjacks, the last three by shutout.

"The difference is the last couple of times we've played them, they've done such a good job bottling us up and blocking shots and keeping the game simple," Ammerman said. "We haven't been able to break through. When the first one went, there was kind of a relief on the bench and said, 'OK, let's just play.' We had a little bit of confidence."

In the last 17 meetings between the teams, eight of the games have gone to overtime — which has been Moorhead's time. The Spuds haven't lost to Bemidji in an extra session (5-0-3).

"We were ready to go and we were clicking. I think we were the better team tonight for sure," Fahrendorf said.

Still, Bemidji's Brady Tatro and Jack Johnson scored twice in a three-minute span late in the second period to give the Lumberjacks a 2-1 lead.

But with 34 seconds to play in the second, Moorhead's Cooper Tietz tied the score, setting the stage for Fahrendorf.

Carson Kosobud and Jack Stetz each finished with two assists for the Spuds, while Leonard made 22 saves. Matt Fitzgerald also stopped 22 shots for Bemidji, ranked No. 9 in the Class 2A coaches' poll.

Entering the game as the favorite, Bemidji was in a bit of an unusual situation. For almost two decades, the Class 2A, Section 8 championship had been in the sights of either Moorhead or Roseau. The two northwestern Minnesota powerhouse programs had won every section title since 1996 — until last winter.

Bemidji finally broke through with its first state tournament berth in 29 years, shutting out the Spuds in the section final to end that domination. But now the Lumberjacks are the program with the target on its back.

"It is a different feeling," Ammerman said. "Expectations are different, not just in the team, but also in the community."

"We expect to win," Chiodo said. "Obviously the kids are upset now, but it's good for our program to have that position. These kids have worked extremely hard and we deserve to be in that position.

"We have a good hockey team. We have to get back to what got us to this point. Right now, it's not happening."


Jack Johnson (39) celebrates his goal that gave Bemidji a 2-1 lead in the second period.

First Report

Senior Jack Fahrendorf scored with 3:08 remaining in overtime to lead Moorhead to an important 3-2 victory over visiting Bemidji on Tuesday at the Moorhead Sports Center.

The Spuds avenged an earlier loss to the Lumberjacks, splitting the regular season series with the defending Class 2A, Section 8 champions.

Fahrendorf also had a power-play goal in the first period while Carson Kosobud and Jack Stetz each finished with two assists for Moorhead (8-7-0, 3-1-0).

Spuds goalie Lance Leonard made 22 saves. Matt Fitzgerald also stopped 22 shots for Bemidji (11-2-2, 5-1-1), ranked No. 9 in the Class 2A coaches' poll.

Spotlight Game Coverage