FAIRMONT — Austin Fredin’s hat-trick goal late in the third period spelled heartbreak for the Fairmont Area Cardinals.

Fredin’s third goal of the night led the Windom Area Eagles to a 4-3 Big South Conference hockey win Tuesday night at Martin County Arena.

The Eagles took a 3-1 lead into the final period, but the Cardinals wouldn’t go quietly.

Brycen Lutterman brought the Cardinals within a goal at the 5:27 mark when Hudson Artz sent a centering pass from behind the net to Lutterman waiting just outside the crease. Lutterman one-timed the puck into the bottom-right corner of the net for a power-play goal to make it a one-score game.

As time wound down, the Cardinals’ energy stayed up.

With 49 seconds left, Artz stole a Windom Area clearing pass and passed ahead to Carson Kuhl. Kuhl took the puck into a one-on-one chance with the Eagle goalie, deeked left to right, the slid the puck through the five hole for an equalizing score.

Fredin wouldn’t let the tie stand for long.

Seventeen seconds after Kuhl’s equalizer, Wyatt Haugen passed ahead to Kaleb LaCanne on a fast break. LaCanne kept the break going, passing ahead to Fredin, who charged straight at the net and wristed the puck into the right side of the webbing to give the Eagles their final winning total.

“It was relief that we scored to tie it up,” Fairmont Area head coach Dylan VanBrocklin said of the final minute of play. “It was a crazy couple of minutes leading up to us tieing it, then, heartbreak to tie it up then 15 seconds later let a goal in. Crazy, crazy way to end,”

Kuhl got the Cardinals on the board in the first period.

Eli Anderson controlled the puck and approached the net before backhanding a pass to Kuhl who connected with the bottom-right corner of the net to give Fairmont Area the game’s initial lead with 14:57 left in the opening segment.

Windom Area’s sibling connection equalized with 4:56 left.

Kyle Espenson started a five-on-three power-play opportunity when he won the faceoff and dished the puck to Zach Espenson. Zach Espenson then connected left circle to right circle with Brady Espenson who fired a slap shot into the upper-right corner of the cage.

Fredin scored his first two goals of the matchup in the second period to give Windom Area its 3-1 lead going into the third segment.

Fredin put the Eagles ahead at the 14:24 mark when he fought Fairmont Area goalie Carsen Musser for control directly in front of the net. Musser looked to be in control, but Fredin kept pushing until the puck slid just past the line for an Eagle goal.

Fredin then scored with 47 seconds left in the middle segment with help from Kyle Espenson and Zach Espenson.

Fairmont Area looked to be in the clear from a power play, but was called for having too many players on the ice just before the previous two-minute minor was up, causing a second-consecutive two minutes.

Eight seconds into the followup penalty, Kyle Espenson won the faceoff and dropped a pass back to Zach Espenson, who fired the puck to Fredin in front of the crease. Fredin tapped the puck into the bottom-left corner of the net for his second goal of the night.

“I thought the first part of the first period we outworked them,” VanBrocklin said. “We’d win that battle and the next one, but after those first seven or eight minutes, we kind of let off. We started losing those battles instead of winning them and that’s what killed us. It took until the last five minutes to get it back.”

The Eagles outshot the Cardinals 41-26.

Musser made 37 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals, while Dan Stubbe made 23 to net the win for the Eagles.

Fairmont Area (3-15, 1-11 Big South) travels to Winona for a 1 p.m. nonconference matchup Saturday.

Windom Area (4-10-1, 4-6 Big South) goes to Redwood Valley for a 7 p.m. Big South Conference matchup Thursday.

WIN 1-2-1–4

FA 1-0-2–3

Scoring Plays

1st Period

FA–Carson Kuhl (Eli Anderson, Evan Carlson), 14:57.

WIN–Brady Espenson (Kyle Espenson, Zach Espenson), 4:56 PP.

2nd Period

WIN–Austin Fredin (unassisted), 14:24.

WIN–Austin Fredin (Kyle Espenson, Zach Espenson), 0:47 PP.

3rd Period

FA–Brycen Lutterman (Hudson Artz), 5:27 PP.

FA–Carson Kuhl (Hudson Artz), 0:49.

WIN–Austin Fredin (Kaleb LaCanne, Wyatt Haugen), 0:32.

Shots on goal: Windom Area 14-18-9–41; Fairmont Area 4-10-12–26.

Saves: Carsen Musser (FA) 13-16-8–37; Dan Stubbe (WIN) 3-10-10–23.

Penalties: Windom Area 5 for 10 minutes; Fairmont Area 6 for 12 minutes.

Power-play chances: Windom Area 3 for 6; Fairmont Area 1 for 5.