JHS girls hockey Roaldson 122920 — Jamestown's Ella Roaldson moves the puck on the ice during a game against Minot Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, at John L. Wilson Arena. John M. Steiner / The Sun

By Michael Savaloja

December 30, 2020 at 7:27 PM

Jamestown boys hockey underwent a tournament-style gauntlet this week and ran the table.

The Blue Jays wrapped up three wins in three days on the road Wednesday with a 6-3 victory over the Williston Coyotes. After the final period of the grueling stretch that began Monday with an 11-1 win at Hazen, Jamestown coach Matt Stockert was proud of his team.

"The last 17 minutes I asked them to do one thing: go out and win the third period. And, they won the third period 2-1," Stockert said. "You can't ask for anything more than that when you start looking at period No. 9 in the last three days."

Jamestown's Joe Cummings broke the seal after 13 minutes, and the Jays would leap out to a 4-1 advantage midway through the second behind a pair of power-play goals knocked home by junior Hunter Nelson in the frame. Possibly showing signs of fatigue, the Jays allowed late goals to both the first and second frames to Carter Bakken (16:59) and Hunter Rossland (15:09) and led 4-2 to start the third.

Playing on Williston's Olympic-sized ice may have exacerbated the issue.

"The first one I think we just have to do a little better job of finishing the period and they don't score," Stockert said. "The second one ... we were playing on the other end and they were on a line change and they moved the puck quick up and down the ice. They're used to that rink and that size and we're obviously not used to it."

Jamestown was outshot 8-5 in the first period, but eventually led shots 31-26, including 13-9 in the third. Nolan Nenow tallied twice in the final seven minutes.

"We probably didn't play the best first period in the world tonight, but considering we had to get the lactic acid out of the legs from playing the two previous days, I felt the second and third period we got after it a little harder tonight and did the things we needed to do to win a game on the road."

Brode Hillstrom made 28 saves for the Jays. Stockert was glad to see Nelson find special teams success on offense but knows Jamestown's power play needs work following a truncated offseason and a busy early-season schedule.

Nelson has five tallies on the season, while Nenow is up to seven.

"We certainly haven't spent enough time on power play in practice yet, so that's something we're gonna harp down on beginning of next week. But for the most part, it's kids just going out and making plays happen. It was good to see Hunter break the ice. He's had some great opportunities here in the past five games to put the puck in the net and he did today."

Jamestown's victories over Hazen/Beulah and Williston sandwiched Tuesday's 5-4 victory at Bottineau/Rugby. Jamestown has the next eight days off before hosting Bottineau/Rugby for round No. 2 on Jan. 8 and traveling to Dickinson on Jan. 9.

"We've got a plan put together," Stockert said. "We'll have one skate here over the weekend and then we'll get back at it hard Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday ... and get ready for another back-to-back Friday and Saturday against Bottineau at home and on the road against Dickinson."

Jays handle Coyotes at home

Jamestown High School girls hockey didn't feel up to playing down three goals through one period Wednesday at Wilson Arena.

Sophomore Bernadette Belzer scored in the first minute facing visiting Williston, and senior Sydney Mittleider buried the eventual game-winner 15 minutes later in a 6-1 Blue Jays victory over the Coyotes.

Jamestown trailed Minot 3-0 after one period Tuesday at home, eventually squeezing out a point in the standings by forcing an overtime shootout won by the Majettes 2-1

"We learned our lesson there," Fitzgerald said. "Today we scored on the second shift of the game. Bernadette came out and scored a minute into the game and we got kinda rolling from there."

Williston would get one back in the second on a goal scored by Breck Gendreau, but it was all Jays from there. Senior Valley City State volleyball commit Ella Roaldson turned in a hat trick, including a short-handed tally in the second, while Belzer added a second goal in the third.

Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play, with Jamestown leading shots 31-23 at the final buzzer.

"It's good for our confidence to get six pucks in the back of the net," Fitzgerald said. "Something that we've struggled with is putting a lot of goals in and Williston is a much-improved team. They cut it to one early on in the second period, but we kept the pressure on and were able to get a lead and build on that as the game went along."

It was senior Erika Anderson's turn in goal Wednesday for the Blue Jays. Anderson turned away 22 of 23 pucks a day after Blue Jay sophomore goalie Jada Nelson recorded 39 saves against Minot.

The Blue Jays' current two-goalie format is so far playing out to be a luxury.

"Right now they both have a hot hand," Fitzgerald said. "Having two goalies is an advantage, especially in a back-to-back situation like this. Jada had a busy night last night, so we were able to get Erika coming in fresh here for the game against Williston."

The now battled-tested Blue Jays will host Fargo Davies this Saturday at 1 p.m. Davies was ranked No. 1 in the preseason by the state's coaches after returning a majority of talent to a team that finished second to Bismarck last season at the state tournament.

Jamestown fell to Bismarck 5-2 on Dec. 22. Davies was unbeaten through three games heading into a Wednesday matchup hosting Minot.

"They're the No. 1 right now," Fitzgerald said. "We're going to see a fast team and it's gonna be comparable to when we played Bismarck last week."

BOYS

Jamestown 6, Williston 3

JAM 1 3 2 -- 6

WIL 1 1 1 -- 3

SCORING

FIRST PERIOD

1. J, Joe Cummings (Jarrett Zalumskis, Nolan Nenow), 13:24; 2. W, Carter Bakken (Ashton Collings), 16:59.

SECOND PERIOD

3. J, Alex Stockert (Hunter Nelson, Conner McLachlan), 2:31; 4. J, Nelson (Gavin Gerhardt), PP, 6:57; 5. J, Nelson (Nenow, Jace Thompson), PP, 8:58; 6. W, Hunter Rossland (Collings), 15:09.

THIRD PERIOD

7. J, Nenow (Gavin Haut), 10:03; 8. W, Bakken (Anthony Hickel, Colby Nehring), 13:53; 9. J. Nenow (unassisted), 15:36.

Goalie saves: J, Brode Hillstrom 7-9-12--28. W, Mason Haugenoe 4-9-7--20

Penalties: J, 4 for 19 minutes. W, 4 for 11 minutes

GIRLS

Jamestown 6, Williston 1

WIL 0 1 0 -- 1

JAM 2 2 2 -- 6

SCORING

FIRST PERIOD

1. J, Bernadette Belzer (unassisted), 0:58; 2. J, Sydney Mittleider (Cadee Stockert, Belzer), 15:50.

SECOND PERIOD