WF tops Blue Jays

The state’s leading scorer came up big for the state’s No. 1 team in West Fargo on Friday night.

West Fargo senior forward Hayley Walsh banged home a trio of goals and picked up an assist, helping the Packers defeat the visiting Blue Jays 5-1.

“We played pretty dang good, we just made a few too many mental mistakes and too many unforced turnovers when we had time with the puck,” JHS coach Brad Schaack said. “If you do that against West Fargo they’ll take advantage, and they did.”

Walsh scored two of her goals in the first two periods, as the Packers held the Blue Jays off the scoreboard until just over 2 minutes remained in the game. That’s when Jamestown senior Amber Schaack kept her season-long scoring streak alive with her 39th goal of the year.

Walsh now also has 39 goals on the season, to go along with 40 assists to give her a state-leading 79 total points.

“I’m pleased with the way we played in the third. We ended up tying them 1-1,” Brad Schaack said. “We wanted to play them even and get that goose egg off the board, and that’s what we did.”

Jamestown senior goalie Carissa Finck picked up 41 saves in the contest, as Jamestown fell to 17-6 overall on the season.

Jamestown will open next week’s state hockey tournament against Fargo South/Davies at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in Grand Forks. The Jays fell to Fargo/Davies 4-1 and 5-3 earlier this season.

“Our only concern with South is that their first line has plenty of size and speed. We’ll need to keep them to the outside as much as possible,” Schaack said. “If we can contain them, I like our chances.”

West Fargo 5, Jamestown 1

Jamestown 0 0 1 — 1

West Fargo 2 2 1 — 5

Scoring

First period

1, WF, Hayley Walsh (Allison Springer), 2:51; 2, WF, Tori Holland (Springer, Kelly Krahn), 4:40.

Second period

3, WF, Walsh (Megan Berginski), 12:50; 4, WF, Springer (Krahn, Walsh), 14:28.

Third period

5, J, Amber Schaack (Larissa Wiest), 14:47; 6, WF, Walsh (Kennedy Stromme), 15:46.

Goalie saves: J, Carissa Finck 13-18-10—41; WF, Andrea Klug 4-6-8—18.

Penalties: J, 2 for 4 minutes; WF, 5 for 10 minutes.

Records: West Fargo 19-0 state, 20-1 overall; Jamestown 15-5 state, 17-6 overall.

Tags: sports, jays, hockey