Jays edge Braves
Despite their struggling record, the Mandan Bravettes have pushed the Jamestown Blue Jays to the limit this season. In their first meeting, the Blue Jays had to rattle off four unanswered goals in the third period to overcome a 3-2 deficit, and on Thursday, in Jamestown’s final home game of the season, the Blue Jays found themselves in a deadlock with less than four minutes to play in the game. But state-tournament caliber teams find ways to win in the clutch and that’s exactly what Jamestown did.
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Despite their struggling record, the Mandan Bravettes have pushed the Jamestown Blue Jays to the limit this season.
In their first meeting, the Blue Jays had to rattle off four unanswered goals in the third period to overcome a 3-2 deficit, and on Thursday, in Jamestown’s final home game of the season, the Blue Jays found themselves in a deadlock with less than four minutes to play in the game.
But state-tournament caliber teams find ways to win in the clutch and that’s exactly what Jamestown did.
Stephanie Kamlitz scored her only goal of the game with 3:11 to go to lift Jamestown to a 3-2 victory over Mandan at Wilson Arena.
“They were a big two points,” said Jamestown assistant coach Jana Hoffmann, who filled in for head coach Brad Schaack on Thursday. “We weren’t playing the best. We were getting outhustled but then in the third we picked it up a little bit.”
The junior forward crashed the net for a rebound and lifted a shot over the shoulder of Mandan goalie Dani Taylor for the go-ahead goal.
“In the last five minutes we really thought hard about what we wanted to do,” said Hoffmann. “We settled down and we were able to get that must-needed win.”
The Blue Jays, who remain in seventh in the state rankings, improved to 7-10-0 against North Dakota opponents and 7-11-1 overall, while Mandan fell to to 1-16-1.
The Bravettes found themselves with the early lead when Solvei Stenslie scored a power play goal less than seven minutes into the second period after beating Jamestown goalie Carissa Finck from the right hash.
The lead nearly lasted the rest of the period but the state’s leading goal scorer had a different idea.
Jamestown’s Amber Schaack scored her 32nd goal of the season with 1:56 to go in the second to tie the game at 1-all less than a minute after Mandan’s Payton Bryan was called for tripping.
“It was like we kind of started over,” Hoffmann said. “It would have been nice to have the first overall goal but Amber stepped up.”
Schaack gave the Blue Jays their first lead in the third period after maneuvering her way through the Mandan defense and beating Taylor glove side on the backhand.
“Amber really had a good game,” said Hoffmann. “She had a lot of support.”
Madison Huber tied the game at 2-all less than 30 seconds later but it was Kamlitz that delivered the final blow.
Finck won her fourth game of the season after turning away 24 shots throughout the night. Taylor finished with a game-high 29 saves.
Jamestown hits the road to play Dickinson tonight in what is another big game for the Blue Jays if they are going to catch the sixth-place Minot Majettes before the tournament begins.
“It’s another two big points,” Hoffmann said. “If we hustle and play better than we did (Thursday) we should be OK.”
Jamestown 3, Mandan 2
Mandan 0 1 1 — 2
Jamestown 0 1 2 — 3
Scoring
First period
No scoring
Second period
1, MAN, Solvei Stenslie (unassisted), 6:26, PP; 2, JHS, Amber Schaack (unassisted), 15:04, PP.
Third period
3, JHS, Schaack (unassisted), 5:31; 4, MAN, Madison Huber (Teddi Schwagler, Payton Bryan), 5:58; 5, JHS, Stephanie Kamlitz (Brenna Pritchert, Kelsey Neumann), 13:49.
Penalties: Mandan 2 for 4 minutes; Jamestown 3 for 6 minutes.
Goalie saves: Mandan, Dani Taylor 14-9-6-29; Jamestown, Carissa Finck 10-10-4-24.
Records: Mandan 1-16-1 state, 1-16-1; Jamestown 7-10-1 state, 7-11-1.
Sun sports writer David Griswold can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at dgriswold@jamestownsun.com
Tags: sports, hockey, jays, girls
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