Michael Gill

Despite hitting their stride at the beginning of the spring semester, going 11-2, the Jacks season ended in further disappointment, with an early loss in the GPCHA and finishing 3rd.

The Jacks were host to the GPCHA tourney this last weekend and had a chance to null the pain after being bumped from a national tournament invite. For the Jacks, the bad news came again though, in just the first round, as they dropped Friday night’s game against Iowa State JV 6-5.

With the early loss the Jacks were left contending for third place against rival Dordt College who they beat for the third time this year Saturday night 2-1.

The Jacks came out Friday night swinging, leaving the Cyclones reeling in the corner waiting for the bell. In the first the Jacks took no mercy with ten shots on goal and four penalties for misfractions rough in nature.

It wasn’t until half-way through the period before the Jacks could score, but once they did, it took only a matter of just over four minutes for the Jacks to put the scoreboard at 3-0.

Getting in the first blow for the Jacks was Jon Samuelson with nine minutes left in the period assisted by Adam Murphy. Less than two minutes later Trevor Selch put the Jacks ahead by another on a goal assisted by Andy Schuster. Schuster would add another point to his total when he fed Mike Schaub’s goal with 4:40 left to play for the final tally of the period.

Iowa State decided it wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel and came out skating hard in the second. They also got a little help as the Jacks’ play got sloppy and they racked up four penalties in six minutes, letting the cyclones back in. The Cyclones welcomed the opportunity and quickly tied the score up 3-3 on three power play goals.

With the game back in question, the two teams played as equals, trading shots and scoring opportunities. It wasn’t until there was only 1:15 left to play in the period that Adam Nelson put the Jacks back in the lead with a goal assisted by Samuelson.

Into the third, with a win one goal away for either team, the two teams traded momentum and goals. Starting off the third Ryan Jacks scored one on Jack goalie Trever Mantuefel to tie the score at 4-4. Justin Riemer would regain the lead with a goal at the 9:52 mark assisted by Ryan Taylor.

With a flair for the dramatic the Cyclones waited until there was only 1:53 left in the game to tie it up on a goal by John Wright. After dominating the first the Jacks lost couldn’t hold off the hungry Cyclones who took the lead and the advancement into the championship round with a goal by Charlie Mitchell assisted by Joe McCarron.

Leading scorers for the Jacks were Samuelson with a goal and an assist and Schuster with two 1st period assists.

The GPCHA championship out of reach the Jacks came out flat Saturday against hated rivals Dordt College. Only with help from goalie Heath Isaacson did the Jacks escape the period with the scoreboard 0-0 as Dordt outshot the Jacks 9-3.

In the second period the game started to look like there were two bullies pitted against each other to see who took the block. After only three penalties called in the first period the two teams were called for 5 penalties in the period. Besides trading pleasantries neither team outplayed the other as both came out of it with a goal and shots were even at 7-6. Scoring for the Jacks in the period was Schuster on an un-assisted goal at the 17:06 mark in the period.

With only one period left in their season the Jacks returned to their late season form and took it to Dordt. The Jacks outshot Dordt 14-8 on the period. The Jacks were able to take the lead for good when Nate Bofenkamp took a pass from John Kotilnek and scored a power-play goal.

Though their season ended in disappointment, the Jacks did come out the weekend with two trophies to put in their case, as their late season surge earned them a trophy as regular season champs, and their third place finish in the tourney.

All in all, the Jacks received hardware to show, deservingly so for all the supporting fans and players.