Blue Jays, North Stars skate to 3-all tie

A new system equaled satisfactory results for the struggling Jamestown High School team Friday night.

Erick Paiement’s third goal of the night with just five seconds left in regulation forced overtime as the Blue Jays earned a 3-all tie with Hazen-Beulah at Wilson Arena.

Coach Matt Stockert used just 10 skaters in the 58-minute marathon, but it worked well enough to earn a point and snap the Blue Jays’ four-game losing streak.

“There’s no question we’ve been struggling and we’ve kind of been trying anything to get it turned around,” Stockert said. “We threw a new system at them on Wednesday, and for as little time as we had to work on, I think the results we saw tonight were very positive.

“The more we’re able to work on it in practice and then hopefully carry it over into games, the better our chances of success are.”

Stockert and the Blue Jays ratcheted down the aggressiveness in the offensive zone, turning to a more conservative approach after allowing 19 goals in their last three games.

“We were getting scored on too much, so clearly what we were doing was not working,” Stockert said. “Basically, we’ve assigned everybody a specific role and we want them to focus solely on doing their job. … Tonight, it seemed to go OK.”

Three goals from Paiement also helped, getting one in each period, including the equalizer with just five seconds left. The goal was disputed by the Hazen-Beulah bench, who wanted a call for Paiement kicking the puck past Preston Landenberger, but the goal stood. It was the first three goals for the ace JHS forward after scoring four in the season opener on Nov. 24.

The Blue Jays appeared to have scored the game-winner late in overtime, but the goal was waved off with 1:59 remaining after the whistle blew with the puck still laying free at the goal mouth after Landenberger was unable to coral it.

Tyler Lindberg made six saves in the extra session and 32 overall for the Blue Jays, who play at Mandan on Tuesday before hosting Bismarck Century Dec. 18 in the final game before Christmas.

“We haven’t had the puck bounce our way in a while, but a lot of that has to do with making your own breaks,” Stockert said. “That’s the best Hazen-Beulah team I’ve probably seen. We can take some good things out of this game and build on them and hopefully try to correct the mistakes we made.”

Minot 7, Jamestown 2

A long trip west ended in a disappointing loss for the Blue Jay girls.

Kaari Burbach and MaKayla Sandvold each scored two goals as the Majettes rolled to a 7-2 win.

The Blue Jays were coming off their first win of the season Dec. 6 against Devils Lake, but fell down early and couldn’t come back.

“It was a rough game for us. We came out flat in the first period and Minot took advantage of it,” said coach Kellen Bjone.

The Blue Jays regrouped and skated better in the second period, but Minot goalie Heather Flaten made 16 of her 25 saves in the frame. Megan stark got the Blue Jays on the board at the 10:26 mark, but they were already down, 4-0.

“Their goalie played well. We had trouble getting it by her,” Bjone said.

Lexy Hastings scored the other goal for the Blue Jays at the 12:00 mark of the third, her team-leading fourth of the season.

The Blue Jays were supposed to play in Williston today, but that game was postponed due to the impending storm.

They’re back in action on Tuesday when they host West Fargo at 7 p.m.

Jamestown 3, Hazen-Beulah 3, OT

Hazen-Beulah 1 2 0 0 — 3

Jamestown 1 1 1 0 — 3

Scoring summary

First period

1, HB, Riley Olson (Cameron Dietz, Kerby Duewel), 1:31; 2, JHS, Erick Paiement (unassisted), 2:59.

Second period

3, HB, Conor Borud (unassisted), 6:09; 4, JHS, Paiement (Eric Watne, Kyle Walden), 10:18; 5, HB, Olson (Kyle Irwin, Brady Hillerud), 16:39.

Third period

6, JHS, Paiement (Jordan Slusser, Walden), 16:55.

Overtime

No scoring.

Goaltender saves: Hazen-Beulah, Preston Landenberger 9-10-6-3 28 saves; Jamestown, Tyler Lindberg 8-11-7-6 32 saves.

Penalties: Hazen-Beulah 7 for 14 minutes; Jamestown 7 for 14 minutes.

Records: Jamestown 2-4-1 overall, 1-3-1 West Region; Hazen-Beulah 2-2-1 overall, 0-2-1 West Region.

Girls

At Minot

Minot 7, Jamestown 2

Jamestown 0 1 1 — 2

Minot 2 2 3 — 7

Scoring summary

First period

1, JHS, Kaari Burbach (MaKayla Sandvold, Samantha Herslip); 2, Minot, Herslip (unassisted).

Second period

3, Minot, Sandvold (Burbach, Herslip); 4, Minot, Sandvold (Herslip); 5, JHS, Megan Stark (unassisted), 10:26.

Third period

6, Minot, Burbach (unassisted); 7, JHS, Lexy Hastings (unassisted), 12:00; 8, Minot, Harley Damron (Herslip); 9, Minot, Jessie Kongelf (Damron).

Goaltender saves: Jamestown, Katie Nenow 7-8-13 28 saves. Minot, Heather Flaten 5-16-4 25 saves.

Penalties: Jamestown 3 for 6 minutes. Minot, 8 for 16 minutes.

Records: Minot 2-3; Jamestown 1-3.

Sun sports writer Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: jhs, bluejays, hockey, hazen, beulah