Unbeaten Red River rolls to 9-3 rout of Princeton

• Grand Forks Herald Jason Stadstad Hockey Classic

Grand Forks Herald Jason Stadstad Hockey Classic

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The Grand Forks Red River boys hockey team’s toughest test so far this year might be complacency.

The unbeaten Roughriders continued their torrid start with a 9-3 rout of Princeton (Minn.) on Wednesday in the first round of the Grand Forks Herald Jason Stadstad Hockey Classic at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Nobody has come within four goals of the 6-0 Riders, who have tallied at least six goals in every game.

“We’ve been able to score goals, so one thing we have to be careful of is to not get complacent,” Red River coach Bill Chase said. “That’s a battle each day. We’ve been very fortunate to be where we’re at.”

Red River advances to the tournament semifinals today against Brainerd at Purpur Arena.

“We’ve talked about (not having a close game yet) and when that time comes we’ll have to be relentless and tenacious,” said Red River senior forward Cody Jennewein, who had a hat trick against the Tigers. “We want to hit teams and make them scared of us.”

Jennewein, who now has seven goals on the year, also had an assist.

“(Jennewein) uses his body as well as anyone in the state,” Chase said. “He can go wide, protect the puck and go hard to the net. He’s a pretty good player. We’ve seen it at times, where he can be a man among boys.”

Andy Norman, Josh Gilbertson, Jordan Lunski, Jake Breidenbach, Casey Fugleberg and Jon Lizotte also scored goals for the Riders, who have 44 goals through six games.

Red River established dominance early against Princeton, which dropped to 5-4. Norman, Gilbertson and Jennewein each scored with the game’s opening 4 minutes, 10 seconds.

“We moved our feet and kept going from beginning to end,” Chase said. “We didn’t sit back.”

Dan Muench, Collin Buness and Daniel Voce scored goals for the Tigers, who were outshot 45-16. Voce now has the runaway team lead in goals with 13.

Princeton goalies Ryan Carlson and Max Mattson combined to make 36 saves.

Red River goalie Roeder Camrud, making his second start of the season, stopped 13 shots, including seven in the first period.

“We let up at the end of the first period,” Jennewein said, “but we got it going again.”

Lunski, Jennewein and Breidenbach scored in the middle period as the Riders pulled away.

“We’ve got good team depth,” Jennewein said. “We have three lines we can roll, and even a fourth line that can come in and do work.”

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