Hockey Day ND
At the UJ outdoor rink at Allen Field
The 14th-ranked University of Jamestown hockey team defeated No.3 Minot State University 2-1 in a shootout Friday night at Allen Field as part of the second annual Hockey Day North Dakota.
After sixty minutes of regulation and a five-minute extra session of 3-on-3 hockey did not determine a winner, the teams moved to a shootout.
Fourteen rounds later, UJ’s Carter Johnson (SO/Meeteetse, Wyo.) put a puck past Beaver goalkeeper Holden Kurtz and Tyson Brouwer (SR/Lethbridge, Alberta) stopped Paul O’Connor for the 2-1 victory.
The game took nearly four hours to complete due to the extra breaks needed to sweep off the accumulation of snow on the outdoor playing surface. Jamestown was in a blizzard warning for the duration of the game and snowfall continued through the night.
After a scoreless first period that saw Minot State outshoot Jamestown 12-10, the JImmies got the first goal of the game at the 18:51 mark of the second period. Cole McKechney (SR/Calgary, Alberta) scored his sixth of the season with assists by Jeremy McNeil (SR/Calgary, Alberta) and Johnson.
The Beavers got the game-tying tally 2:19 into the third period off the stick of Justin Metcalf. Assists went to Riley Vautour and Landyn Cochrane.
UJ had all four shots in the overtime period but Kurtz was able to turn them away and send the game to a shootout.
Jamestown went first in the shootout and fell behind 1-0 after the first round. After missing their first two attempts and needing a goal to stay alive, McKechney came through to level the shootout at 1-1.
Twenty-one consecutive combined stops by Brouwer and Kurtz kept the shootout knotted at one.
Johnson began the 14th round with a shot that deflected off of Kurtz’s left pad and trickled into the back of the net, making it 2-1. Brouwer then denied O’Connor on the ensuing Minot State attempt and put an end to the marathon contest.
Brouwer made 25 saves while Kurtz stopped 28. The Jimmies were 0-for-4 on the power play while the Beavers were 0-for-3.
The Jimmies are back in action against Minot State next weekend with a home-and-home series beginning in Minot on Friday.
