Big first period: Century comes away with 5-3 win over Jamestown

The future of the Jamestown High School boys hockey program appears to be heading in the right direction.

Becoming students of the game starts at an early age, which was obvious following a quick interview with Honorary Blue Jays for A Night, Conner McLachlan and Michael Mahoney, after the conclusion of Jamestown’s 5-3 loss to Bismarck Century at Wilson Arena on Thursday night.

Even kids under the age of 10 could point out where things went wrong.

“Because (the Blue Jays) wouldn’t skate hard enough, and they wouldn’t move like the skaters at the game that I went to,” said 8-year-old McLachlan.

“Well, they weren’t always on top of their ‘A’ game,” 9-year-old Mahoney pointed out. “They weren’t always in it as hard as they could.”

But Bismarck Century senior forward/defenseman Alec Rauhauser, however, was.

With over 31 minutes of hockey still left to play, the 6-foot-3 standout had already recorded the hat trick, as the Patriots — the No. 1 team in the West Region — improved to 13-4 overall and 10-2 in the region.

Rauhauser also picked up an assist, as he left Jamestown with 44 total points after entering third overall in the state with 40.

After the two teams traded power-play goals to start the first period, the Patriots scored back-to-back goals exactly 5 seconds apart to go ahead 3-1 with just under 6 minutes left in the first period, ending Jamestown starting goalie Tygh Yatskis’ night.

Rauhauser scored first at 11:10, and that was immediately followed with a goal by junior forward will Renner after the faceoff at center ice just 5 ticks later (11:15).

“The first period, Tygh wants the third one back for sure. We felt he wasn’t seeing the puck real well tonight, so we made the change right away after that one,” JHS coach Matt Stockert said, as Yatskis finished with 4 saves. “It’s not his fault at all. But (senior) Ben (Walz) came in and played well the rest of the game.”

But it was Rauhauser striking again to start the second 17 minutes. He scored back-to-back goals after just 2 minutes, 6 seconds had gone by in the frame, giving Century a commanding 5-1 advantage.

“It’s 3-1 after one, we’re outshooting them going into the second period, and Bismarck Century comes out pretty hot and heavy on us,” Stockert said. “That’s the reason why they’re the No. 1 team in the West Region right now.”

The Blue Jays, however, didn’t back down in what turned into a very physical contest down the stretch. Jamestown clawed back into it late in the period.

After Rauhauser opened the second with back-to-back goals with nearly 15 minutes yet to go in the period, the Blue Jays tried to claw back into it late in the frame with pair of short-handed goals to trail by two (5-3) start period No. 3.

Jamestown junior Brandon Stahlhut banged home his fourth goal of the year during a 5-on-3 Jamestown advantage, which was followed up shortly thereafter with a power-play goal scored by Jakobi Lux.

The goals came 22 seconds apart, with Lux’s lighting the lamp with 10:06 left to play in the period.

“They got it to 5-1 and a lot of teams and a lot of kids would just say, ‘Hey, we’re done,’” Stockert said. “But it just goes to show you the attitude of this group of kids in here. They’re not going to quit.”

But the Blue Jays and the Patriots skated to a 0-0 draw in the third, as neither team found the back of the net. Jamestown did have one power-play opportunity in the period, but the Jays would fall to 8-10 overall and 8-6 in the West Region.

The win was the Patriots’ fourth in 5 games, while the Jays dropped to 1-4 over their last five. Walz wound up with 26 saves for the Jays, while the Patriots’ Ryan Hanson collected 23 saves in net.

The Jays are at Devils Lake on Saturday, before hosting Mandan on Tuesday and traveling to Bismarck High next Thursday.

“The third period was back-and-forth. We hit a pipe, (and) we missed one in the slot,” Stockert said. “If one of those goes in, it’s a whole different game I tell you that.

“Hats off to Century, they’ve got a good little hockey team over there, and hats off to our kids for getting after it for a better part of the entire hockey game today.”

Bismarck Century 5, Jamestown 3

Bismarck Century 3 2 0 — 5

Jamestown 1 2 0 — 3

Scoring

First period

1, J, Alex Williams (Dakotah Spitzer, Brandon Stahlhut), 4:40 (PP); 2, BC, Byrne Curl (Brad Kelly, Alec Rauhauser), 6:02 (PP); 3, BC, Rauhauser (Christopher Brown), 11:10; 4, BC, Will Renner (Kelly), 11:15.

Second period

5, BC, Rauhauser (Keaton Leininger), :38; 6, BC, Rauhauser (Jake Brucker, Mason Przybilla), 2:06; 7, J, Stahlhut (Spitzer), 6:32 (5-on-3); 8, J, Jakobi Lux (Williams, Jake Stilwell), 6:54 (PP).

Third period

No scoring.

Goalie saves: BC, Ryan Hanson 8-7-8—23; J, Tygh Yatskis 4-x-x—4, Ben Walz 2-14-11—26.

Penalties: BC, 5 for 10 minutes; J, 6 for 12 minutes.

Records: Bismarck Century 13-4, 10-2 West Region; Jamestown 8-10, 8-6 West Region.

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

Tags: sports, jays, hockey