×

Blades too sharp for Cardinals hockey

FAIRMONT — Breckenridge-Wahpeton forward Jase Jensen took a liking to the ice at Martin County Arena on Saturday.

Jensen carved out a hat trick and a pair of assists to power the visiting Blades from North Dakota to a 7-4 non-league hockey victory over the Fairmont Area Cardinals.

Jensen distributed an assist during the Blades’ 4-2 loss to the Worthington Trojans on Friday night.

“It’s a long trip for them, but they’re able to get two games in back-to-back,” said Fairmont activities director Mat Mahoney.

Jensen and the Blades did not show any signs of fatigue just 17 hours after exiting the Worthington ice arena as the 6-foot-2 freshman staked the visitors to an early 1-0 lead.

Isaac Wohlers skidded the puck to an awaiting Jensen near the crease and the Blades’ top scorer slammed home his shot at the 10:55 juncture.

Fairmont Area senior forward Tyler Head, however, answered the challenge less than a minute later to knot the game at 1-all. Head redirected Kaylan Legred’s shot from the wing to beat Blades goaltender Tucker Barth with 9:56 remaining in the opening frame.

Jensen retaliated in back-to-back style four and five minutes later, respectively, to stake the Blades to a lead they would not relinquish.

Jensen delivered a crossing pass to Alex Klug, who rattled a shot off Cardinals starting goalie Tyson Geerdes’ pads only to watch as Blades teammate Charlie Wynn chipped in the backside rebound for a 2-1 edge with 5:53 left in the first period.

Jensen then picked up the loose puck in neutral ice, weaved through defenders and unleashed an ice-hugging slapshot that lit the lamp for an unassisted goal at the 4:22 mark.

Wynn added an assist to his scoring sheet by wristing a shot off of Geerdes’ pads that Dylan Teberg picked up and slid the carom through the proverbial five-hole at the 3:21 juncture for a 4-1 lead.

Fairmont Area relief netminder Colby Kuhl then turned away all 14 of the Blades’ second-period shots as teammate Tom Havnen inched the Cardinals closer on the scoreboard with a goal. Carter Olson delivered a precision two-line pass to Havnen near the blue line and the Cardinal junior wing juked Barth sideways before tapping home the net-finding flip with 1:42 left in the middle segment.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Carson Hought and Jensen reeled off back-to-back goals during a 43-second span during the third period’s early stages to extend the Blades’ lead to 6-2.

Jensen and Justin Nelson combined for a double-assist on Thomas Withuski’s putback goal against Kuhl with 6 minutes to go in regulation.

Head pocketed a steal and delivered his second goal of the contest — an unassisted strike at the 5:36 mark to whittle Fairmont Area’s deficit to 7-3.

Head and Leyton Becker then combined passing skills to set up Bryan Karp’s power-play goal with only 53 seconds remaining. Karp found the left top shelf off the original carom to account for the game’s lone power-play conversion.

Barth turned away 24 shots to net the win between the pipes for the Blades. Geerdes made 14 first-period saves, while Kuhl generated 22 stops during the final two frames for the Cardinals.

Fairmont Area (0-6) travels to New Ulm on Thursday night, while Breckenridge-Wahpeton (1-5) hits the road to Red Lake Falls on Friday night.

B’ridge-W’ton      4-0-3–7

Fairmont Area      1-1-2–4

Scoring Plays

1st Period

BW — Jase Jensen (Isaac Wohlers), 10:55.

FA — Tyler Head (Kaylan Legred, Bryan Karp), 9:56.

BW — Charlie Wynn (Alex Klug, Jensen), 5:53.

BW — Jensen (unassisted), 4:22.

BW — Dylan Teberg (Wynn), 3:21.

2nd Period

FA — Tom Havnen (Carter Olson), 1:42.

3rd Period

BW — Carson Hought (unassisted), 15:13.

BW — Jensen (unassisted), 14:30.

BW — Thomas Withuski (Justin Nelson, Jensen), 6:00.

FA — Head (unassisted), 5:36.

FA — Karp (Head, Leyton Becker), pp., 0:53.

Shots on goal: B/W 18-14-11–43; Fairmont Area 9-9-10–28.

Saves: Tucker Barth (BW) 8-8-8–24; Tyson Geerdes (FA) 14-x-x–14, Colby Kuhl (FA) x-14-8–22.

Penalties: Fairmont Area 4 for 11 minutes; B/W 4 for 8 minutes.

Power-play chances: Fairmont Area 1-for-3; B/W 0-for-4.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.65/week.

Subscribe Today