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Blue Jay girls hockey season ends in state quarterfinals

The Jamestown High School girls hockey team fell to Fargo North/South in the first round of the 2020-21 girls state hockey tournament.

jhs girls hockey 16 vs gf 020621
Jamestown's Kaycee Johnson (16) takes a shot towards the Grand Forks goal Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021, at John L. Wilson Arena. John M. Steiner / The Sun

The longest season the Jamestown High School girls hockey team has had in eight years has come to end.

The Blue Jays fell 7-0 to top-seeded Fargo North/South Tuesday in the opening round of the state tournament quarterfinals at the Fargo Colisseum. The last time the Jays played a game in the state tournament was in 2013.

"It was an exciting day overall," JHS head coach Andy Fitzgerald said. "We went to the rink and did a pregame skate and got a police escort out of town, so our girls had fun with that. There was a lot of excitement surrounding it but it was a really good experience for our team."

The Blue Jays put up a tough fight in the first period against FNS on Jan. 16. In a prior interview, Fitzgerald said the Blue Jays would have to keep top scorers, Rylee Bartz and Abby Promersberger out of the back of the net in order to have a chance to move on to the semifinals.

Blue Jay senior netminder Erika Anderson only allowed one puck to slip into the back of the net in the third period, but Promersberger got loose a few too many times. Promersberger along with Lindsey Astrup netted six in the first two periods. Bartz, the top scorer in the state did not record a goal Tuesday.

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"When they scored, they scored in bunches, especially toward the end of the second period," Fitzgerald said. "We played a really good second period with them and then all of a sudden in like a two-minute they had three goals in on us.

"They did a really good job of capitalizing on our mistakes and that's why they are the No. 1 seed."

Fargo North/South outshot the Blue Jays 44-16. Promersberger accounted for three of the team's seven goals and Bartz recorded two assists to end her final season with the Spartans.

The Blue Jays' best season on record in nearly 10 years started out a little rocky as the team lost eight straight games to put the team at 2-11-0. One day after the Jays lost 3-1 to Minot, the team pitched a convincing 5-0 shutout at Williston. The win was the start to a 4-2 streak in February, bringing the Blue Jays record to 5-13-0. The Blue Jays clinched the No. 8 seed at the state tournament with an 8-1 win over Dickinson on Feb. 12.

The Blue Jays will lose five seniors to graduation, but Fitzgerald said the lessons they have taught the younger squad will hopefully result in more than one state tournament team in the next eight years.

"The seniors really provided good leadership," Fitzgerald said. "We had a lot of freshmen and eighth-graders on our team that looked up to our seniors and just all the hard work they've put in over the last four years to get the program where it is right now."

Fargo North/South 7, Jamestown 0

JHS 0 0 0 -- 0

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FNS 3 3 1 -- 7

Scoring

First period: 1. FNS, Julia Puhl (Molly Hanson), 1:41; 2. FNS, Abby Promersberger (Isabelle Puhl), 12:20; 3. FNS, Lindsey Astrup (Rylee Bartz, Evelyn Olson), 13:42.

Second period: 4. FNS, Promersberger (unassisted), 13:02; 5. FNS, Astrup (Bartz), 14:04; 6. FNS, McCartney Jundt (Olson), 15:00.

Third period: 7. FNS, Promersberger (unassisted), 15:08.

Goalie Saves: JHS, Erika Anderson 15-11-11--37; FNS, Savannah Wuitschick 4-8-4--16.

Penalties: JHS 1 for 2 minutes; FNS 4 four 8 minutes.

Gerber is a sports writer for the Jamestown Sun.

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