Flame On

Over the March 10 weekend, the Bantam A Devils Lake Flames traveled to Grand Forks to defend their title in the North Dakota Amateur Hockey Association's (NDAHA) state tournament.

New Rockford native Jackson Schumacher, 15, is a forward and the assistant captain for the Bantam A Flames, and he helped his team return to their second consecutive appearance in the championship game.

Bantam A is a division of the NDAHA for kids aged 14-15 years old.

Schumacher and his squad began the tournament on Friday, March 10 with a dominant shutout win against Jamestown/Valley City, before moving on to play Mandan in the quarterfinals.

They beat up on Mandan even more than they did J/VC, scoring 10 goals to their 1. The win put them through to the semifinals where they narrowly took down North Star Youth Hockey by a score of 3-1.

Then they were through to the championship game, but if they wanted to earn their second straight state championship they'd have to defeat the tough Grand Forks Red team, and unfortunately for them, they were a little too much to handle on the day.

Grand Forks didn't wait long to score their first goal, as a quick passing play in front of the Flame's net was quickly converted into a point. They went on to score three points before Devils Lake scored their first.

By the end of the second period the score was 6-3 in Grand Forks' favor, and it didn't get better from there.

Despite their best efforts, the Flames were unable to mount a successful comeback and lost in the championship round by a score of 4-9, ending their season with a respectable second place showing.

For his part, Schumacher was given the playmaker award for points scored during the tournament.

Looking ahead, Schumacher will age out of the Bantam A division next year, and will play for either the junior varsity or varsity Firebirds squad next.