Blue Jays hammer WHS

• Matt Grounds

Jamestown’s Matt Grounds goes after the puck ahead of Williston’s Cody Hughes during the Blue Jays’ 7-1 win Saturday at Wilson Arena (John M. Steiner/The Sun)

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Scoring while on the power play, staying out of the penalty box and key saves in front of the net all added up to a victory for the Jamestown boys hockey team at Wilson Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Jamestown senior forward Jake Stilwell posted his second hat trick of the young season, and the Jays powered past Williston 7-1 in West Region play.

Stilwell entered the game as the state’s fifth-leading scorer with 13 points, and he added three goals and two assists to that total against the Coyotes. Stilwell has 10 goals and 8 assists in the Blue Jays’ first six games.

“All I can say is that kid’s a stud,” laughed junior forward Jakobi Lux. “All I do is pass it to him and hope for the best.”

That method worked just 56 seconds into the game, when Lux found Stilwell out near the blue line with the Coyotes down a skater. Stilwell rifled a shot into the crowd from the right side, which sailed straight by Williston goalie Ty Berg and into the net.

Stilwell scored again roughly 13 minutes later, and senior forward Alex Williams buried Jamestown’s second power-play goal of the period into the net with just 16.7 seconds left. The Jays led 3-0 after the first, with Dakotah Spitzer also picking up a pair of assists in the frame.

“It’s nice when we try and slow the power play down, make a play and make it happen,” JHS coach Matt Stockert said. “The first goal was just a good shot with a bunch of guys in the front of the net. Jake got it on net and got it through there and the goalie didn’t even see it.

“The second one was a good little play and that’s what we want the kids to be doing.”

Ben Walz started his second game of the season between the pipes for the Jays on Saturday, recording 12 saves in the victory.

Williston committed 6 minors in the game, while Jamestown visited the box just three times.

“It’s not easy not seeing a lot of pucks. You’ve got to keep your head focused in there and Ben did a nice job of doing that all night long,” Stockert said. “The goal that they scored on us was just a result of a breakdown on our part defensively and nothing against Ben. He made all the saves we needed him to make and then a couple more.”

Overland, a junior defenseman, finally got Williston on the board in the second trailing 4-0. It was just Williston’s second goal all season, as the Coyotes fell to 0-5 on the year.

Stilwell went coast-tocoast in the second to score an unassisted goal for the hat trick. Williams added his second goal of the game, assisted by Stilwell, with 1:39 left in the second to send Jamestown into the third with a 5-1 advantage.

“We came out pretty strong in the first period,” Lux said. “The second period, it was probably one of our worst periods of the year, but we came out stronger in the third and (put the game away.)”

Jamestown juniors Austen Meyer and Dustin Lindgren added goals for the Jays in the third, helping Jamestown improve to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the West Region. The Jays have a stiff test on Friday, when they travel to Bismarck Century (5-0, 3-0 WR).

Jamestown 7,Williston 1

Williston 0 1 0 — 1 Jamestown 3 2 2 — 7 First period: 1, JHS, Jake Stilwell (Jakobi Lux), :56, PP; 2, JHS, Stilwell (Dakota Spitzer), 13:43; 3, JHS, Alex Williams (Spitzer, Stilwell), 16:44, PP. Second period: 4, JHS, Stilwell (unassisted), 12:07; 5, WHS, Tracer Overland (unassisted), 13:19; 6, JHS, Williams (Stilwell), 15:21. Third period: 7, JHS, Austen Meyer (Brady Hoggarth, Spitzer), 1:21; 8, JHS, Dustin Lindgren (Matt Grounds), 10:42. Goalie saves:WHS, Ty Berg 13-x-x—13, Camden Haugenoe x-10-14—24; JHS, Ben Walz 3-7-2—12. Penalties:WHS 6 minors; JHS 3 minors. Records:WHS 0-5, 0-5 West Region; JHS 3-3, 3-2 West Region.

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at msavaloja@jamestownsun.com

Tags: jays, hockey, sports