BEMIDJI — Taevon Welle scores in bunches.
On Dec. 2, the Bemidji High School boys hockey senior captain scored five times in a 6-5 road win against Thief River Falls. Eleven days later, he was at it again when the Lumberjacks hosted Class A’s third-ranked team at Bemidji Community Arena. Welle had a goal and two assists in the second period, propelling BHS to a 4-2 win over Sartell.
“It’s not a coincidence. Once you start feeling good in a game, it’s easy to keep it going,” Welle said. “It makes the game a lot easier when you play with that kind of confidence.”
Welle, Bemidji’s leading scorer, entered Saturday’s game with seven goals and an assist. He put on a show in the second period. After picking up a secondary assist on Griffin Dewar’s tying goal, Welle notched the primary helper to tie the game again. He fed a 2-on-1 pass to Quinn Niemi 10 minutes into the second period.
“I have some great linemates in Cal (Mattfield) and Quinn,” Welle said. “Quinn plays such a simple game and it just works so well. He’s always got his head up and makes forehand plays on the whole ice. He makes my job really easy.”
Welle wasn’t done there, either. He gave the Lumberjacks their first lead three and a half minutes before the second intermission with his eighth goal this season. It proved to be the game-deciding tally.
“It’s really not just him, right?” head coach Ben Kinne said of Welle. “Cal Mattfield, Griffin Dewar, Dawson Schoonover, Nate Valley — all of those guys are in their third year of varsity hockey. The expectation is that they need to have good shifts and good games. Good for Taevon for getting the chances he’s getting.
“The third goal was a great individual effort. There’s not a lot of kids who can do that, and I’m really happy with his development and his leadership. At times, he’s been dominant.”
Welle is up to eight goals and three assists this season in six games. He remains the Lumberjacks’ leading scorer, pushing the defending 8AA runner-ups to a 4-2 record after 11 seniors graduated last spring.
“There’s definitely pressure [to produce offensively], but at the same time we’re really excited about the opportunity,” Welle said. “It’s exciting to get the chance to come out here and prove ourselves. It’s important to me to be a key piece of our team this year. It feels good to have that kind of pressure because pressure is a privilege.”
Sartell has had a staggeringly good start to its 2025-26 campaign. The Sabres opened the season with a 7-3 win over Rock Ridge. They also beat St. Cloud, Gentry Academy, and Roseau, building up their perfect 6-0 record heading into Saturday’s contest at the BCA.
Fortunately for the Lumberjacks, Sartell moved out of Section 8AA last spring when the Minnesota State High School League did its biennial competitive section realignment. The Sabres now skate in Section 6A among the likes of Little Falls, Willmar, Northern Lakes, and Fergus Falls.
“That’s a very hard game we just played against a very good team,” Kinne said. “I’d be very surprised if that team is not contending for a state title at the Class A level. They play fast, they play hard, they’re very competitive, and it was a really good challenge.
“For us, it was a gutty team win, from the goaltender on out. It’s one of those things where this is what it’s going to look like when we win games this year.”
While the Lumberjacks got the desired outcome in the end, the early moments were a struggle. Sartell is led by a four-headed monster: Devin Jacobs, Preston Deragisch, Brayden Klande, and Isaac Mentzer, all of whom arrived in Bemidji on Saturday scoring two points per game or more through their first six contests.
Jacobs, Sartell’s leading scorer, added to his total with a power-play tally less than two minutes into the first period. He recorded his ninth goal and 23rd point by sniping the top-left corner over senior goaltender JD Wood’s right shoulder.
“You just have to find a way to bounce back and stay positive in that situation,” said Wood, who made his first varsity start in goal. “Just trust yourself and what you know in that situation. Your team will battle back for you.”
Despite conceding the first goal, the Jacks settled in. They outshot the Sabres 11-8 in the first period and came out of the first intermission with a full two-minute power play, thanks to Jameson Schmitz’s tripping penalty at the end of the opening frame.
Bemidji’s power play, which was already 0-for-1 to start the game, hadn’t scored in 20 attempts on the season when the second period began. However, Dewar leveled the score at 1-1 with a goal 53 seconds into the advantage.
“It’s been a work in progress,” Kinne said of the power play. “It’s great to see us have a better mindset and good intensity, because that’s where it starts. When you win puck battles and move the puck quickly to put yourself in a good spot, you’re doing something right.”
It appeared as if Sartell regained its one-goal lead moments after Dewar’s tally. Jaiden Bambenek tapped in a rebound following a breakaway chance, but a premature whistle became a fortunate break for the Lumberjacks.
Water found its level, though, as Klande scored on a similar play less than a minute after the early whistle that negated Bambenek’s score.
The third period remained goalless until the final minutes. With Sartell goalie Brody Potthoff pulled for a 6-on-5 advantage, BHS blocked four shots. Wood made two of his eight third-period saves before Landon Knott scored an empty-net goal with less than a second left to ice the game.
Wood made 25 saves on 27 shots to pick up his first victory.
“For JD Wood to play so well in his first varsity start, I was so happy for him,” Kinne said. “The kid works extremely hard. He’s backed up by his teammates, and you could see how excited they were for him at the end there.”
—
**Bemidji 4, Sartell 2**
**Score by period**
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|——-|—|—|—|——-|
| SAR | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| BHS | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
**First period**
SAR GOAL: Jacobs (Mentzer, Otto) PPG, 1:46
**Second period**
BHS GOAL: Dewar (L. Knott, Welle) PPG, 0:53
SAR GOAL: Klande (Deragisch, Jacobs), 3:33
BHS GOAL: Niemi (Welle, Kringen), 10:18
BHS GOAL: Welle (Kringen), 12:21
**Third period**
BHS GOAL: L. Knott (unassisted), 16:59
**Saves**
Wood (BHS): 25
Potthoff (SAR): 22
https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/sports/prep/bemidjis-big-second-period-leads-to-statement-win-over-class-as-no-3-sartell