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(NewsDakota.com)- Thursday kicks off another edition of the North Dakota State Hockey Tournament in Grand Forks. Both teams from Jamestown will represent their school beginning play early in the day Thursday.
The boys, fresh off Jake Stilwell’s overtime goal in the state qualifier, will be matched up against the top-seed from the east Grand Forks Red River at 12:00pm. The girls will try to beat Fargo South/Davies for the first time in programs history in the 4/5 match-up.
Coach Brad Schaack and his girls will be looking toward the bottom half of the bracket with some envy where they have a 8-1 record against the teams in the 3/6 and 2/7 games. They have a record of 2-4 against the three other teams on their side, both wins coming over No. 8-seed Williston.
Jamestown, who is the No. 4-seed, missed out on the third-seed by a mere one point. Had they been slotted in the No. 3 spot they would have been the favorites to reach the title game, unfortunately they have to go the hard way.
“With no Region tournament, I told my girls every game is like a playoff game,” said Coach Schaack. Jamestown finished the regular season with a school record 17 wins.
The Jamestown boys proved that nothing is a given in high school athletics as they battled top-seeded Century to a double-overtime thriller in the West Region tournament semis before falling 4-3.
However, the task doesn’t get much easier at the state tournament as they will open up play against the champions of the EDC, Grand Forks Red River. The Roughriders defeated Grafton-Park River in the title game 6-3.
The Jays have not played Red River since the opening game of the 2011 State Tournament, which resulted in a loss. The Roughriders own a 6-1 mark against Jamestown at the state tournament, the only loss coming in 1992 when Darin Erstad lead the Jays to a 7-4 victory.
The girls game can be heard on 103.1 FM The Raven with the pregame show beginning at 1:15pm. The boys will be on TED-FM 98.3 (Jamestown) and 102.7 (Valley City) at 11:50am. Both games will be streamed on NewsDakota.com.