With a flick of his wrist, Jackson Saunders christened the new scoreboard at the Blake School Ice Arena that bears his own last name. 

The Art Saunders (Class of ’69) scoreboard is named to honor Jackson’s uncle, who passed away in 2012 after a nearly three-year battle with brain cancer. 

“My uncle meant a lot to me, and still means a lot to me,” Jackson said after his Bears thumped the Academy of Holy Angels 4-1 on Tuesday night behind his pair of goals. 

“He was a leader on and off the ice, and the biggest thing was he played with heart, he played with a love for the game, and that’s what I play for,” Jackson said of his uncle. 

Saunders gestured toward the sky after his first goal, a rocket of a shot from the Stars’ left face-off circle, late in the first period, letting his uncle know that goal was for him. 

“He came right to my mind when that happened,” Jackson said. 

“I dedicated that first one under his name him.”

Behind Saunders’ two-goal performance, the Bears (2-1) pressured the Stars all evening, pumping more than 40 shots on goal and limiting the Stars (0-3) to under 15.

Freshman forward and Minnesota commit Joe Miller scored his first goal as a Bear in the second period, giving him four points over the team’s first three games. 

Blake head coach Greg May said that even with Miller’s obvious talent, he wasn’t expecting this type of statistical output so soon. 

“Not this good, to be honest,” May said with a smile. 

“He’s a special player,” May continued. “His hockey IQ is off the charts (and) he impresses me every single day.”

Miller is one of 13 freshmen that speckle both the varsity and junior varsity rosters at Blake, an arrangement that May says helps team chemistry and enables players to pick up on team concepts more quickly. 

“At an independent school like this, you don’t grow up playing with everybody,” May said. 

“So if we give them four years instead of three (to) learn our philosophy, learn our system, I think that’s beneficial.”

Despite drawing players from all over the metro area, several of his players hail from the Minneapolis Storm youth system, including five from the 2014-2015 Peewee AA team that finished the season 52-6-8 and as state runner-up. 

On Tuesday, Miller faced one of his former teammates from that talented group, Holy Angels forward Mackie Zabinksi. 

“That’s one of those guys where you like having him on your team, but you don’t like to play against him,” Miller said with a grin regarding Zabinski.

In addition to lighting the new scoreboard for the first time, the victory helped break in the arena after extensive renovations made to the facility. 
“The rink means a ton to me,” Saunders, a senior captain, said. 

“We’re all really grateful for all the donations that were made,” Saunders continued.

“Going into my senior year, it means so much. It’s something I can look at and say, this is where it all started.”