Minot rallies past JHS

Talk about it

The Minot Magicians had a few tricks up their sleeves on Thursday, and they all came in the third period.

Minot scored four goals in the final period to overcome a two-goal deficit and defeat Jamestown 4-2 in the Quinn Fuchs scored a power-play goal with 4:46 to play to put Minot up for the first time and then Sam Ebert scored an empty-netter to seal the deal with 51 seconds remaining.

Jamestown (7-13-2) will now be playing with its season on the line today against Williston at 11 a.m., while Minot (12-10-0) will meet up with top-seeded Bismarck Century at 5 p.m. for spot in the West Region championship.

Alex Williams and Jake Stilwell helped give the Blue Jays a two-goal cushion before Minot surged back with four unanswered to end the contest.

Williams put the Blue Jays on the board in the first period on a feed from Jakobi Lux, while Stilwell, the Blue Jays’ leading goal scorer, added to his season total with a score late in the second.

Stilwell, who now has 24 goals this season, buried a shot with 1:14 to go in the second to give Jamestown a little breathing room with just 17 minutes to go.

But it wasn’t quite enough.

Jake Smith scored Minot’s first goal and then Josh Colleaux knotted it up with a strange goal where the puck ricocheted off the crossbar and hit the back of Jamestown goalie Tygh Yatskis before settling in the net.

The fortunate bounce opened the flood gates as Morelli and Ebert capped off the third-period comeback with two goals in the final five minutes to push Jamestown on the brink of elimination.

Yatskis finished with 40 saves and Minot goalie Jake Luedke had 21.

Minot 4, Jamestown 2

Jamestown 1 1 0 — 2

Minot 0 0 4 — 4

Scoring

First period

1, JHS, Alex Williams (Jakobi Lux), 14:13.

Second period

2, JHS, Jake Stilwell (unassisted), 15:46.

Third period

3, MHS, Jake Smith (Jersey Keller), 2:31; 4, MHS, Josh Colleaux (unassisted), 8:10; 5, MHS, Quinn Fuchs (Mason Morelli), 12:14; 6, MHS, Sam Ebert (Morelli), 16:08.

Penalties: Jamestown 4 for 8 minutes; Minot 4 for 8 minutes.

Goalie saves: Jamestowm, Tygh Yatskis 11-10-19—40; Minot, Jake Luedke 11-7-3—21.

Records: Jamestown 7-13-2; Minot 12-10-0.

Tags: sports, jays, hockey