Blue Jays skate tough, Red River gets the win Thursday

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The score at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Thursday afternoon was not indicative of how well the Jamestown High School boys' hockey team played, a frustrating reality that would peeve any head coach.

"I hate that," JHS head coach Matt Stockert said.

The Blue Jays wound up dropping 7-0 to Grand Forks Red River in the opening round of the 2023 State Hockey Tournament. For the Jays to not be eliminated and play all three days of the tournament, they will have to pick up a consolation semifinal win on Friday.

Jamestown will be facing off against Minot in the consolation semis on Friday afternoon. The puck is scheduled to drop at noon at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Aside from a from scored by Carson Skarperud at the 0:26 mark of the first period, the Blue Jays hung tough with the top-ranked Roughriders. The Jays remained physical and managed a handful of takeaways on the defensive end. Blue Jay sophomore Vaughn Romsdal outskated a few different Red River skaters and managed to keep the puck out of Red Rivers' paws.

Blue Jay goaltender, Andrew Walz, faced 45 shots and made 38 saves. Red River outshot the Jays 45-12.

A couple of soft passes to open ice in the Jays' own zone resulted in a pair of turnovers which perfectly set up Luc Bydal and the state's leading scorer, Mikey Coleman and what was a one-goal game with about four minutes left, turned into a 3-0 advantage with less than two minutes left in the opening period.

Coleman doubled down and scored the lone goal in the second period.

"Red River is a very good team," Stockert said. "They make you pay for mistakes with quality opportunities."

While they had a four-goal lead entering the final period, Red River didn't let up on the gas. The Roughriders buried three goals to run out the clock and punch their ticket to the state semifinals on Friday.

Jamestown had 11 quality scoring chances while the Roughriders had 39. Six of Jamestown's 12 shots came in the third period.

"Systematically, I liked the way that we played," Stockert said. "We just couldn't sustain any real pressure. We had chances on turnovers just not enough of them with Red River being stingy on defense like they always are."

Grand Forks Red River 7, Jamestown 0

JHS 0 0 0 — 0

GFRR 3 1 3 — 7

Scoring

First period

1. GFRR, Carson Skarperud, (Carter Sproule), 0:26; 2. GFRR, Luc Bydal (unassisted), 13:27; 3. GFRR, Mikey Coleman (Bydal), 16:04.

Second period

4. GFRR, Coleman, (Bydal, Grant Gardner), 1:24

Third period

5. GFRR, Bydal, (Coleman, Gardner), 10:24; 6. GFRR, Sproule (Dillon Jackson, Thomas Peterson), 12:24; 7. GFRR, Carter Sproule (Skarperud, Hudson Kilgore), 13:37.

Goalie saves: Jamestown, Andrew Walz 10-9-19—38; Red River, Jake Jenkins 3-3-6—12

Penalties: Jamestown 1 for 2 minutes; Red River 1 for 2 minutes

Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald