Jamestown Wins 3 to 2 After Late Second Period Goal

Jamestown secured a tense 3 to 2 victory over Bottineau Rugby thanks to a turnover and a quick finish by senior Bennett Goehner late in the second period. With four seconds remaining in that stanza Goehner beat goalie Rowan Cheshire on the stick side and deposited the puck to put Jamestown ahead, a play JHS head coach Jake Stilwell credited to positioning and team structure. "Benny was where he needed to be," Stilwell said in an interview with Jamestown's 107.1 FM. "He scored there because he was in the right spot. He's high, in the middle of the ice preventing cross-ice passes. Their guy tried to go to the far side and tried to put it right on his tape and that's not their guy necessarily making a terrible play, that was our group doing a great job of adjusting, playing in our structure and ... having a third guy high and in the middle."

The game opened with an early goal by Bottineau Rugby's Casey Freeman at 4 minutes and 8 seconds of the first period. Jamestown answered at 5 minutes and 22 seconds when Max Whitman scored on an assist sequence involving Gavin Schafter and Brady Nenow. Bottineau Rugby regained the lead at 12 minutes and 24 seconds on an unassisted goal by Gavin Barsch. Jamestown tied the contest nine seconds before the first intermission when John Belzer scored from a play created by Goehner and Parker Roelfsema.

Stilwell said the Braves had dangerous looks in the first period and that Jamestown was a step slow at times. "(Bottineau) had the puck in dangerous areas a lot in the first period," Stilwell said. He also noted veteran recognition on the tying sequence late in the first. "We realized their wingers were really flying hard," Stilwell said.

Statistically Jamestown finished with 24 shots on goal compared with Bottineau Rugby's 21. Shot totals by period were Bottineau Rugby 7, 6 and 8 for 21, and Jamestown 13, 9 and 15 for 24. Goaltender Rowan Cheshire recorded 34 saves for Bottineau Rugby while Jamestown's Leif Hanson made 19 saves. In the final frame Jamestown limited the Braves to eight shots and protected the one goal margin.

The Blue Jays improved to 4 and 1 with the victory and will return to Wilson Arena on January 3 to host Williston at 5 30 p.m. For local fans the game reinforced the value of in game adjustments and senior leadership as Jamestown seeks momentum in the early part of the season.