Butte falls to 0-18 with shutout loss

By Matt Sayler - 11/30/2008

The Butte Roughriders played hard for two periods, and when they had a perfect opportunity in the third, the 'Riders blew it with mistakes and in the end gave up a 4-0 victory to the Bozeman Ice Dogs in a Northern Pacific Hockey League Contest.

Butte was down just 2-0 with 15:54 left to play when Bozeman was handed a five-minute major penalty.

The Roughriders squandered the attempt with mistakes, including frivolous penalties that gave Bozeman a 4-on-3 advantage and instead of Butte catching up, the 'Riders fell further behind and trailed 3-0.

"We absolutely shot ourselves in the foot," Butte head coach Chris Shadow said. "We ruined the major with stupid penalties. That's a huge penalty there. It's a five-minute major down two goals and it's time to go to work. Instead, we fall behind 3-0."

Butte looked slow and sluggish toward the middle of the third, changing lines with little hustle and sending errant passes often.

"That was a selfish effort by us and it showed," Shadow said. "It showed by us getting shut out."

Shadow was obviously disappointed, and is growing increasingly frustrated with his team's hot-and-cold performance that has let the Butte team slip to 0-18 on the season.

"Sooner or later we'll figure it out," Shadow said. "The way we are going, though, it's going to be later."

Butte is back in action Friday in Missoula.

Bozeman 0 1 3 - 4

Butte 0 0 0 - 0