Eagles ground Cardinals at sectional
WINDOM — The No. 8-seeded Windom Area Eagles and No. 9-seeded Fairmont Area Cardinals split the regular boys hockey season series, with each pocketing a win on the other’s home ice.
The Eagles earned one more home opportunity in the opening round of the Section 3A playoffs and used it to their advantage, posting a 6-1 win over the Cardinals on Thursday night.
Fairmont Area ends its season with a 5-19 record. Windom Area (7-17) faces No. 1-seeded Luverne in the section quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Blue Mound Ice Arena in Luverne.
The Cardinals were called for two penalties in the first period and the Eagles used them to gain the early 2-0 lead.
Sophomore defender Tyler Porath sent a slap shot flying past the Cardinals for the first power-play score of the game with 12:53 remaining in the opening frame.
Nearly nine minutes later, Porath passed to freshman forward Kyle Espenson for a shot that was rejected by Cardinals junior goaltender Colby Kuhl. But Jesse Pigman was stationed in the right corner for a rebound and power-play goal.
The Cardinals tried to get things going in the second period with seven shots on goal, but Eagles senior goalie Peter Ignaszewski rejected each attempt for the two-period shutout.
“You’ve got to have some puck luck and we had zero puck luck,” Cardinals head coach Kris Olson said. “You talk about two breakaways and an empty net, those kinds of opportunities. It just didn’t go our way.”
On the other end, Kuhl recorded a second-period shutout, sending away 14 of the Eagles’ shots.
But the Eagles struck right away in the third period and created more separation en route to the five-goal victory.
With 37 seconds off the clock, junior forward Wyatt Schumacher picked the puck away from the Cardinals and broke down the ice. Schumacher’s successful swipe was the team’s first shot on goal in the period for a 3-0 score.
“That (goal) was kind of a dagger, I think,” Olson said. “We had five quality scoring chances (in the second period) and you don’t come away with one. You come out in the third and try to get going and they score right away. It’s pretty detrimental to everything.”
Espenson led the way for the Eagles with two consecutive goals in the final 10 minutes of the contest. Starting at 9:05 the freshman used an assist from senior defender David Volk to put the Eagles up, 4-0.
Six minutes later, Espenson rebounded Porath’s missed shot and scored for his third point of the night. With 2:34 to go in the game, Volk completed a pass to sophomore forward Jacob Cory, who smacked the puck past Kuhl for the Eagles’ sixth goal of the night.
The Cardinals were able to avoid the shutout as senior defender Kaylan Legred scored the team’s only goal and the last of his prep hockey career with seven seconds left on the clock. Also on the ice were fellow seniors Tyler Head, Leyton Becker, Bryan Karp and Logan VonFeldt.
“We were able to get all the seniors out there for that last shift, so everyone was part of it,” Olson said. “When I talked to him (Legred) on his way in, he said, ‘I don’t have anything bad to feel. I scored a goal in my last shift.’
“I just wish we could have done it a little sooner.”
Kuhl recorded 45 saves in the game.
Fairmont 0-0-1–1
Windom 2-0-4–6
Scoring Period
1st Period
WA — Tylan Porath (unassisted), pp., 12:53.
WA — Jesse Pigman (Kyle Espenson), pp. 3:26.
2nd Period
No scoring.
3rd Period
WA — Wyatt Schumacher (unassisted), 16:23.
WA — Espenson (David Volk), 9:05.
WA — Espenson (Porath), 3:02.
WA — Jacob Cory (Volk), 2:34.
FA — Kaylan Legred (unassisted), 0:07.
Shots on goal: Windom Area 17-14-14–45; Fairmont Area 4-7-12–23.
Saves: Colby Kuhl (FA) 15-14-10–39; Peter Ignaszewski (WA) 4-7-11–22.
Penalties: Windom Area 4 for 8 minutes; Fairmont Area 3 for 6 minutes.
Power-play chances: Windom Area 2-for-3; Fairmont Area 0-for-4.
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