Blue Jays hit the 10-spot
The Blue Jays were knocking on the door of a 10-win season last year. This year, they blew it off its hinges. The Jamestown girls’ hockey team cruised to a 5-0 victory over Dickinson on Friday night at Wilson Arena, marking the first time the Blue Jay girls’ hockey team has ever recorded double-digit wins in a season.
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The Blue Jays were knocking on the door of a 10-win season last year. This year, they blew it off its hinges.
The Jamestown girls’ hockey team cruised to a 5-0 victory over Dickinson on Friday night at Wilson Arena, marking the first time the Blue Jay girls’ hockey team has ever recorded double-digit wins in a season.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said JHS coach Brad Schaack of win No. 10. “The good thing was we got a lot of girls out there. Carissa (Finck) got to play out and Lexi (Grabinger) got to play a lot.”
Jamestown is now 9-10-0 in the state and 10-10-1 overall, while Dickinson falls to 0-15-0 state, 1-19-0 overall.
“That’s something we’ve wanted for a while,” said Jamestown’s Mataya Olson, who had two goals in the win. “It’s good to finally get it.”
Despite the one-sided score, Dickinson goalie Kelsey Gillen stole some of the show.
The freshman keeper was peppered with 69 shots throughout the night, while the players in front of her were only able to put three shots on Jamestown goalie Ally Dion.
Dion was perfect in the game for her second shutout in as many starts this season. Her other shutout came when the Blue Jays traveled to Dickinson to meet up with the Midgets back on Jan. 7.
“She loves playing goalie,” Schaack said. “She looks good in there. She looks like a goalie, and for just one year of playing goalie that’s good to see.”
Amber Schaack didn’t waste much time before giving Jamestown an early cushion to work with. She buried two shots in the first period to help the Blue Jays take a 2-0 lead after one period of play. She also assisted two goals later in the game to improve her season total to 35 points.
Schaack, who has 26 goals on the year, scored her first with a backhander over Gillen’s glove.
The goal was set up by Torri Kamlitz and Grabinger with under 10 minutes to play in the period.
The Blue Jays continued to put heavy pressure on the freshman netminder, throwing 28 shots on net in the first 17 minutes.
“We’re trying to be a little more aggressive on the forecheck,” said Brad Schaack. “The (defense) is starting to take a few more chances because we need to sustain a forecheck a little longer than 10 or 15 seconds. We’ll try it again against Devils Lake and then we’ll really be tested against West Fargo.”
Gillen kept the Midgets within one until Shaack slipped a shot past her on a 1-on-1 with 5:30 remaining in the first. The Blue Jays’ leading scorer beat Gillen on the nearside with the assist going to Pritchert.
“We still need to score more than we did,” Brad Schaack said. “I told the girls we’re not going to get this many opportunities against a lot of other teams.”
Olson scored her first goal of the game just over a minute into the second period on the power play. The senior rifled a shot from the top of the left circle to put Jamestown up 3-0.
“We need to be scoring more goals, obviously,” said Olson. “But I think the forecheck has been working.”
Her second came in the third with 11:40 to go to put Jamestown up 5-0. She had her chance at a hat trick midway through the third on a short-handed breakaway, but Gillen turned the shot away to keep the score at 5-0.
“Yeah I wanted it,” Olson said of registering a hat trick. “We wanted to get the running time, but we still got the win.”
Torri Kamlitz scored midway through the second period on a centering feed from Larissa Wiest. The goal was Kamlitz’s sixth on the year.
The Blue Jays will be looking to make it 10 state victories when they host Devils Lake on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Wilson Arena.
“We need to be going into state with a few wins,” said Olson. “That keeps us motivated.”
Jamestown 5, Dickinson 0
Dickinson 0 0 0 — 0
Jamestown 2 2 1 — 5
Scoring
First period
1, JHS, Amber Schaack (Torri Kamlitz, Lexi Grabinger), 7:25; 2, JHS, Schaack (Brenna Pritchert), 11:30.
Second period
3, Mataya Olson (Sarah Auka, Schaack), 1:06, PP; 4, JHS, Torri Kamlitz (Larissa Wiest, Steph Kamlitz), 10:37.
Third period
5, JHS, Olson (Schaack), 5:20.
Penalties: Dickinson 4 for 8 minutes; Jamestown 1 for 2 minutes.
Goalie saves: Dickinson, Kelsey Gillen 26-23-15—64; Jamestown, Ally Dion 1-1-1—3.
Records: Dickinson 0-15-0 state, 1-19-0; Jamestown 9-10-0 state, 10-10-1.
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