FAIRMONT — Tristan VanDeVere notched a hat trick to lead the Marshall Tigers past Fairmont Area 6-3 in Big South Conference hockey action Thursday night in Fairmont.

VanDeVere scored twice in the second period and once in the third, while dishing out an assist in the opening segment, to power the Tigers.

The Cardinals’ Kaiden Musser scored the first goal of the game with 15:11 left in the first period.

Marshall’s netminder tried to clear the puck from near the Tiger net, but Musser was there to steal the pass and fire a shot into the right side of the webbing to put Fairmont Area ahead.

The Tigers’ Jaden Gannott then hit an equalizer when Marco Bayer passed the puck to Grant Hoff on the left side of the net, pulling the Cardinal defense to Hoff’s side of the webbing before he dished the puck to Gannott just off the right pipe, where Gannott tapped it into the open side of the webbing with 8:23 left in the opening segment.

Marshall took the lead, and VanDeVere earned his first of four points on the night, when Jared Reinsma used a double helper from VanDeVere and Kaleb Welvaert to score on a power-play opportunity with 5:09 left before the first break.

Eli Anderson equalized for Fairmont Area early in the second period.

Anderson, Hudson Artz and Carson Kuhl weaved toward the net with Kuhl passing to Artz near the left side of the net, before Artz tapped a pass to Anderson on the right side, where Anderson sent the puck flying into the cage.

Fairmont Area head coach Dylan VanBrocklin said the Cardinals have shown signs of improvement since they last played Marshall on Dec. 19, a 7-0 Marshall win.

“It was a lot better than the last time we played them that’s for sure,” VanBrocklin said. “The hustle is getting better, we’re starting to win those races and those first battles. We’ve got to continue to win those, we win those first ones then they keep going and win the second one and third one. We’ve got to continue to win all the battles we can. … Tyson (Geerdes) played great. Overall, it was a lot better.”

VanDeVere then broke the tie with his first goal, which he scored unassisted, then extended the Tiger lead with his second, off a double helper from Bryson Whyte and Welvaert on a power-play, at the 12:18 and 7:28 marks, respectively.

Anderson brought the Cardinals back within one with under a minute in the second period.

Anderson took a shot at the bottom-right corner of the net, which was blocked back out to him. As his momentum began to slide him past the net, Anderson reached back and tried again, only to be blocked a second time. Anderson’s momentum kept going toward the boards behind the net and he fell to his back while reaching his stick as far as he could, eventually poking the puck past the Marshall goalie for his second goal of the period.

VanDeVere earned his hat trick with an insurance goal early in the third period off a double assist from Jenson Meyer and Braxton Meyer, before Whyte put the Tigers up by three with a score off an assist from Reinsma.

Fairmont Area netminder Tyson Geerdes made 43 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals, while Marshall’s Dominik Caspers made 15 to net the win.

Fairmont Area (3-14, 1-10 Big South) plays host to Windom at 7 p.m. Tuesday, while Marshall (13-6, 10-2 Big South) goes to Redwood Valley at 7:15 p.m.

Marshall 2-2-2–6

Fairmont Area 1-2-0–3

Scoring Plays

1st Period

FA–Kaiden Musser (unassisted), 15:11.

MA–Jaden Gannott (Grant Hoff, Marco Bayer), 8:23.

MA–Jared Reinsma (Tristan VanDeVere, Kaleb Welvaert), 5:09 PP.

2nd Period

FA–Eli Anderson (Hudson Artz, Carson Kuhl), 13:20.

MA–Tristan VanDeVere (unassisted), 12:18.

MA–Tristan VanDeVere (Bryson Whyte, Kaleb Welvaert), 7:28 PP.

FA–Eli Anderson (unassisted), 0:56.

3rd Period

MA–Tristan VanDeVere (Jenson Meyer, Braxton Meyer), 15:37.

MA–Bryson Whyte (Jared Reinsma), 3:06.

Shots on goal: MA 18-19-12–49; FA 5-11-2–18.

Saves: Tyson Geerdes (FA) 16-17-10–43; Dominik Caspers (MA) 4-9-2–15.