Blue Jays blank Dickinson

• Tim Knudson

Photo by John M. Steiner/Forum Communications Co. Dickinson sophomore Tim Knudson, left, tries to keep the puck away from Jamestown senior Riley Schafer in front of the Midgets’ net on Monday afternoon during a West Region boys hockey game at Wilson Arena in Jamestown.

Talk about it

JAMESTOWN — After a sluggish start, the Jamestown boys hockey team found an unusual remedy in the second period — put Dickinson on the power play.

Brady Anderson and Jake Stilwell each scored short-handed goals early in the second to give the Blue Jays a must-needed West Region jolt on their way to blowing out the Midgets 6-0 on Monday in a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day matinee at Wilson Arena.

“We were trying to do a little more attacking in the other team’s own end when they’re trying to break the puck out,” Blue Jays coach Matt Stockert said. “We were trying to bottle them up and get them confused, and it seemed to work there in the second period.”

Jamestown (3-9-1 overall, 3-7-1 West) threw 17 shots on net in the opening period, but only one was able to slip past Dickinson (2-12-0, 0-10-0 West) starting goalie Matt Porter.

“We put 17 shots on net and we got just one goal out of it,” Stockert said. “It probably should have been 3 or 4-0, but it wasn’t. … We came out hard in the second period. All year long, our bad period has been the second period, so I told some of the guys to make sure everybody stayed focused. I thought we did that. We did the same thing (as the first period), we just benefited a little more in regards to scoring goals.”

Ben Sorenson put the Blue Jays on the board with just 15 seconds to go in the first period, just as their first power play expired.

“I thought we were really patient on the power play,” Stockert said. “We were patient and took advantage of the 2-on-1s. That seems to be coming around.”

Jamestown didn’t get to use its power-play unit extensively as the Midgets were called for just three penalties, and one was coincidental.

But, late in the second period, Riley Schafer took advantage of the Blue Jays’ final power play when he scored with just 1:15 left in the period to put Jamestown up 4-0.

The puck fluttered past backup goalie Jamison Gray, who replaced Porter earlier in the period, in mid-air before the junior netminder swatted the puck out of the net.

The score was in question, but the final ruling was that the puck crossed the line before being knocked away by Gray.

“We had a big letdown in the second period,” Dickinson head coach Tom Folske said. “We just didn’t come out skating.”

Folske said it was a coaching decision to replace Porter with Gray in the second period.

“The first period was all Matt Porter,” Folske said. “The second period, we pulled him and put in Jamie. Matt had seen a whole game’s worth of shots in the first period.”

Sorenson scored his second goal in the third period, giving him three this season. Alex Williams notched his sixth goal of the year with less than 5 minutes remaining to make it 6-0.

Ben Walz recorded his first shutout of the season for the Blue Jays after turning away 20 shots, including 11 in the final period after spending the first 34 minutes watching most of the action take place in Dickinson’s zone.

“In the third period he had to make some nice saves, which was good to see,” Stockert said of his goaltender. “He left one rebound, but other than that it was a pretty good game for him.”

Jamestown put 50 shots on net with Porter registering 17 saves and Gray recording 27.

“When you put 18 and 19 shots on net in the first two periods, respectively, and you’re up 4-0 going into the third, it makes it easier to get a lot of kids on the ice,” Stockert said. “We just wanted to get the kids some time and I think that was a good opportunity to do it.”

Dickinson 0 0 0 – 0

Jamestown 1 3 2 – 6

FIRST PERIOD: J, Ben Sorenson (Riley Schafer, Terry Bruns), 16:45.

SECOND PERIOD: 2, J, Brady Anderson (Jake Stilwell), 2:48, SH. 3, J, Stilwell (unassisted), 5:39, SH. 5, J, Schafer (Nick Jenson, Stilwell), 1:15, PP.

THIRD PERIOD: 5, J, Sorenson (Schafer), 9:31. 6, J, Alex Williams (Tanner Werkhoven, Jacobi Lux), 12:52.

SAVES: D, Matt Porter 17-X-X—17, Jamison Gray X-16-11—27. J, Ben Walz 4-5-11—20.

RECORDS: Dickinson 2-12-0, 0-10-0 West. Jamestown 3-9-1, 3-7-1 West.

Griswold is a sports reporter for The Jamestown Sun, which is owned by Forum Communications Co. The Dickinson Press staff contributed to this story.

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