The Royals Keep on Rolling

Last night was a big win for Bethel hockey. They beat St. Mary’s 6-2 in an exciting home game. Tonight they travel down to Winona for the second game of the series. The win, combined with a St. Thomas loss, keeps Bethel in sole possession of first place in the MIAC. If Bethel wins its next three games and St. Thomas loses 1 more of its five, Bethel will win the conference for the second year in a row.

Jeff played another great game last night with 2 assists and a third period highlight reel goal. With Bethel leading 4-2, and on the power play, Jeff and line mate Kent Bostrom came into the zone on a two on one. Bostrom drove wide on the defenseman and Jeff curled in behind Bostrom. Bostrom made a real nice drop pass to Jeff and he came in alone, short side on the goalie. After a deke, Jeff pulled the puck to his backhand and knocked the water bottle off the net, top corner, short side.

The game gives Jeff 33 points on the year (11 g, 22 a), tops on the team, and good for a tie for the conference leader in points and assists in overall games played.

Past headlines of note
Feb 8 – Royals crush Cardinals 6-2
Feb 1 – Bethel claims sole possession of first place with 5-3 win over Hamline
Jan 21 – Balvin scores 100th career point in wild 6-6 tie with Lawrence

Update on My Brother’s Knee

Thanks for the prayers! Jeff has seen a couple doctors and they are pretty sure he damaged the ACL, but, amazingly it sounds like it is not uncommon for people to keep playing with this kind of injury. Jeff is encouraged that he’ll be able to finish off his senior year and he’ll be looking into surgery in the off season. Thanks again for the prayers.

An Ugly, Ugly Mess

Hope you didn’t spend too much time listening to the game tonight. It was another classic example of the physical dominance of Wisconsin teams over Bethel. Back when I played it seemed like Superior (and other teams) were simply too strong and banged us up all over the ice. Bethel has struggled to develop the type of toughness and crispness (with passing) that are necessary to compete with teams from the east.

Bethel Hockey Online

Bethel has a difficult test tonight against UW-Superior @ 7:05pm. The teams from Wisconsin are always big and strong and tough. You can listen to the game online by clicking here.

Bethel Hockey Recap

It’s been a good last couple weeks for the Bethel Royals hockey team. Last weekend they swept a scrappy Augsburg team. Jeff didn’t put up many points but his aggressive play inspired his teammates and made him a threat every time he was on the ice.

Royals shut out Auggies 5-0
JB stats= 0g , 0a, +0

Royals score four unanswered goals to beat Auggies 4-2
JB stats= 0g , 1a, +2

This weekend Bethel had another tough series against the St. John’s Johnnies. Bethel was badly out shot each night, but their goalie played strongly and they held on to win Friday. Saturday night was much too close for comfort as it took a game tying goal with 9 seconds left to send the game to overtime and ultimately to a tie. Jeff had another great series, played tough and creating opportunities for the guys around him.

Fogerty, Damjanovich lead Bethel past St. John’s 2-1
JB stats= 0g , 0a, 4 PIM, +0

Eastman’s goal forces overtime, Bethel and St. John’s tie 3-3
JB stats= 0g , 2a, +1

Season Totals:
Bethel 8-2-1 (overall)
Bethel 3-2-1 (conference)
JB 4g 14a = 18 points, 10PIM, +12

Balvin Named MIAC Player of the Week

MIAC Men’s Hockey Athlete of the Week
Bethel University senior forward Jeff Balvin (Maple Grove, Minn.) scored his third and fourth goals of the year and added his 10th and 11th assists in Bethel’s 7-4 win over St. Scholastica last Wednesday. The Royals and Saints were tied 4-4 going into the last period, but Balvin assisted on the go-ahead goal, and tacked on Bethel’s final goal to seal the victory. Balvin now leads the team in scoring with 15 points.

Balvin gets 2 goals, 2 assists in 7-4 win over St. Scholastica

Here the headline from Bethel University’s hockey homepage:
Balvin gets 2 goals, 2 assists in 7-4 win over St. Scholastica

That pretty much sums up Bethel’s pre-Thanksgiving win on Wednesday; unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the game.

JB stats = 2g, 2a, +2

Season Totals:
Bethel 5-2-0 (overall)
Bethel 0-2-0 (conference)
JB 4g 11a = 15 points, 6PIM, +9

An encouragement if I may- if you live in the Twin Cities area you really need to find a time to come and watch this kid play!

Bethel Hockey Update

There have been a few games since I wrote last. Here’s a quick rundown.

11/09 – Bethel skates past Marian 7-3
11/10 – Royals stay undefeated with 4-3 OT win over Marian
11/16 – Tommies top Royals 4-1 in conference opener
11/17 – Bethel falls 6-5 in wild overtime game with St. Thomas

Jeff stats…
1a, 2PIM, +0
1a, 2PIM, +0
+0
3a, +1

Season Totals:
Bethel 4-2-0 (overall)
Bethel 0-2-0 (conference)
JB 2g 9a = 11 points, 6PIM, +7

Bostrom, Balvin help Bethel roll over UMN Crookston

Bostrom, Balvin help Bethel roll over UMN Crookston

JB stats = 1g, 3a, 2PIM, +4

Season Totals:
Bethel 2-0
JB 2g 4a = 6 points

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend this game. I am really going to miss watching Jeff play when he graduates so I am going to try and catch as many games as possible this year.

Bethel Hockey is Back!

Bethel hockey started again tonight with the Royals defeating the U of M Crookston team 4-0.

JB stats = 1g, 1a, +2

Season Totals:
Bethel 1-0
JB 1g 1a = 2 points

In four years playing at Bethel I never was on the winning end of a shut-out. This year the team started the season with one. Great game to watch. Bethel was all over them most of the night, except the last 8-10 minutes when the quality of Bethel’s play deteriorated to match that of Crookston.

My brother Jeff played great, and had a really skilled shorthanded breakaway goal to go along with an assist. His best play of the night however was a breakaway that he missed. He put an amazing move on the goalie that left the tender’s jock strap in the stands. But unfortunately he shot the puck wide of the empty goal.

I brought the three kids and was chasing them around while I watched. An older woman commented how brave I was to bring all the kids. I replied that I was a just a devoted brother and fan. When she found out #17 [Jeff] was my brother she said, “Oh, now I know why you come!” That was a cool compliment and gives you an idea of how good a player my brother is.