Early surge lifts Demons over Blue Jays

Jamestown scored two goals in the final period, but Bismarck dug the Blue Jays into too big of hole as the Demons closed out the regular season with a 6-2 win on Thursday night in Bismarck.

The Blue Jays will be the No. 5 seed in the West Region tournament after Hazen-Beulah suffered an 8-3 loss on Thursday night to Mandan.

Bismarck, behind a three-goal first-period barrage, will be the No. 3 seed behind top-seeded Bismarck Century and Bottineau.

Thomas Malkmus put the Demons on the board when he snuck a shot past Jamestown goalie Tygh Yatskis just five minutes into the contest. The score was set up by Brandon Oliver, who scored a goal of his own in the third period to make it 5-1.

Jared Spooner had two scores for the Demons and Bo Yesel had one as the Demons finished the regular season with an 11-3-1 West Region mark and a 12-8-1 overall record.

Jamestown ended its year 6-9-1 in the West and 7-13-1 overall.

Jake Stilwell spoiled the shutout in the third when he found the back of the net with a power-play goal less than six minutes into the period. Brady Anderson made it 6-2 six minutes later with his first goal of the contest. Riley Schafer helped set up both goals, while Ben Sorenson was also credited with an assist on the first and Matt Grounds on the second.

Yatskis was busy in net making 31 saves, while the Demons’ Trenton Schwehr finished with 12 and Brandt Haskell recorded 4.

The West Region tournament kicks off Thursday, Feb. 16 in Minot.

Bismarck 6, Jamestown 2

Jamestown 0 0 2 — 2

Bismarck 3 0 3 — 6

Scoring

First period

1, B, Thomas Malkmus (Brandon Oliver), 5:05; 2, B, Jared Spooner (Drew Wolf), 11:44; 3, B, Brandon Gieszler (Cooper Cox, Bryce Eckman), 16:49.

Second period

No scoring

Third period

4, B, Spooner (Nick Goulet, Quinn Irey), 1:07; 5, B, Oliver (Cole Olson), 2:45; 6, J, Jake Stilwell (Ben Sorenson, Riley Schafer), 5:57, PP; 7, B, Bo Yesel (Eckman), 11:15; 8, J, Brady Anderson (Schafer, Matt Grounds), 11:42.

Penalties: Jamestown 6 for 12 minutes; Bismarck 3 for 6 minutes.

Goalie saves: Jamestown, Tygh Yatskis 13-11-7—31; Bismarck, Trenton Schwehr 4-6-2—12, Brandt Haskell X-X-4—4.

Records: Jamestown 6-9-1 West, 7-13-1; Bismarck 11-3-1 West, 12-8-1.

Tags: sports, hockey, jays