East Grand Forks puts up special teams clinic to beat Red River, picks up season's first win

Nov. 28—GRAND FORKS — East Grand Forks Senior High's power-play surge Friday afternoon at the Blue Line Club IcePlex was jump-started by a sophomore.

Cy Hjelmen corralled a pass just outside the right faceoff circle, crept forward and let loose a wrister that went bar down for the opening goal late in the first period against Grand Forks Red River.

Hjelmen's highlight-reel strike was just the start of the Green Wave's success on the man advantage.

East Grand Forks scored two additional power play goals in the second period and cruised to a 5-2 win over the Roughriders, picking up its first win of the 2025-26 season.

"That was a good first win for our group," EGF head coach Tyler Palmiscno said. "I thought our power play was good. In all honesty, probably the difference in the game was our special teams. PP, PK did their jobs."

Red River went 0-for-3 on the man advantage, while the visitors went 3-for-6.

"The power play was really good today," senior Cole Schmiedeberg said. "Compared to our last game, we moved the puck better, quicker and just made simpler plays."

The Green Wave improved to 1-1 with the win. It was a far cry from East Grand Forks' 5-1 loss to Delano on Nov. 22 — Friday's victory looked like a return to form for the defending Minnesota Class A champions.

"We were staying out of the box," junior goaltender Noah Schindele said. "I thought we got a little heated (against Delano) and couldn't really control ourselves. Really coming in with a calm head, and just kind of rolling with it, like take a hit and just walk away, it was huge. ... It felt like we played our style of hockey a lot better than what we did before. And just bringing that fight today was good."

Each of East Grand Forks' five goals came from different players. Juniors Max Bies and Jace Panzer each scored power-play goals in the second period, and Schmiedeberg made it 4-0 with under seven minutes to go.

Senior Bodey Schmaltz provided the fifth and final goal in the third period, which was sandwiched between a pair of strikes from the Riders.

"Always a rivalry game between two Grand Forks teams, and it feels good to come to their barn and get a win," Schmiedeberg said. "We've got a lot of depth, we've got a lot of experience, and it's really good when we can spread the wealth."

Red River controlled play in the opening minutes of the first period. However, the Riders' early attacks were stymied by Schindele.

Schindele, who started in the championship game against St. Cloud Cathedral back in March, played like the poised, experienced goaltender he is. He made 25 saves, finishing with a 0.926 save percentage.

"I thought Noah Schindele was fantastic in net, especially early in the game," Palmiscno said. "Their first five minutes, we didn't really have a response, and he was very calming for us back there."

Schindele said, "I was just flowing. I was just going with the flow, and just staying clear-minded, just making the next save."

Senior Cullen Rost and junior Caden Ulmer were the two Riders who managed to get past Schindele. Rost scored Red River's first goal with just under six minutes left in the second period, and Ulmer struck with 24 seconds left in the game.

Friday's game was the first matchup of the 2025-26 Gambucci Cup series. East Grand Forks, the reigning Gambucci Cup champions, will take on Grand Forks Central Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Civic Center.

The Riders' next Gambucci Cup tilt is slated for Dec. 9. They'll play Central at the Purpur Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.