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EspañolFeb. 26—FARGO — Grand Forks Red River junior Caden Ulmer emerged postgame from the Scheels Arena locker room sporting a bloody bandage across his chin.
In the first period, Ulmer was hit from behind into the net, his chin came down hard on the crossbar and needed to leave the ice with a bloody face.
"It woke me up, I guess you could say," said Ulmer, who expected the cut to need stitches.
That was bad news for Jamestown.
Following the chin injury, Ulmer scored a hat trick as the Roughriders pulled away from Jamestown 5-1 in the quarterfinals of the North Dakota state boys hockey tournament on Thursday.
Red River advances to face West Fargo Sheyenne in the state semifinals, a game the Roughriders have won six years in a row — a span that includes three state championships. The game begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Red River looked a bit shaky early, giving up a goal on the first shot of the game for Jamestown, which was making its first state tournament appearance since 2023.
Jamestown sophomore Parker Roelfsema scored his team-leading 21st goal of the year about five minutes into the game on a seemingly harmless shot.
"I thought we had to pick up our game," Red River defenseman Brekkin Hultberg said. "I felt like it was slow at the start, and we just kept missing the net. Our game plan was get shots on net and go harder."
Ulmer set the Riders back on the right path when he scored his first goal on the power play. Late in the first period, Ulmer scored coming down the middle of the ice on a rush after receiving a feed from Kale Gruenberg.
With three goals in the quarterfinals, Ulmer now has 31 goals on the season and eight goals in his last six games.
"Once we scored, we got a little more settled in," Red River coach Tim Skarperud said. "It might have taken the intermission to just kind of have a little heard to heart about doing things the right way and playing the game the right way.
"(The intermission conversation) was just a bit of a wake-up call ... like, okay guys, we are in the state tournament. I think we were looking for the pretty play. Once we started getting our feet moving and supporting the puck, then better things started happening."
Red River goalie Rilan Korynta set the tone early in the second period, stuffing a clean breakaway by Jamestown's Bennett Goehner.
Meanwhile, the Rider offense tacked on second-period goals from Gruenberg and Ulmer to push the lead out to 3-1. Gruenberg scored his 18th of the season after dangling a defender and sniping a corner at 1:25 of the second, while Ulmer tipped a point shot from Hultberg on the power play.
Mason Brenno scored Red River's fourth goal at 34 seconds of the third period, while Ulmer completed the hat trick on a long shot into an empty net. The Blue Jays had pulled their goalie with about three minutes to go on the power play for a 6-on-4 advantage.
The Riders split with Sheyenne during the regular season.
"Just stay with our game," Ulmer said of the key to the matchup. "We like to be physical. If we play fast and physical, (Skarperud) thinks we'll play better. I think we just have to keep to his standards and just play hard."