BLUE LINE RUSH — Fairmont Area’s Brock Lutterman controls the puck as Cardinal teammate Hudson Artz (10) joins him at the blue line en route to a rush down the ice Thursday night at Martin County Arena in Fairmont. Waseca’s Leo Harguth (7) and Griffen Krautkremer (15) trail the action. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Kyle Ahlschlager entered Thursday night’s Big South Conference hockey game in Fairmont with four goals and four assists during Waseca’s season-opening two-game sweep over Marshall last week.

The Bluejays’ scoring leader doubled his seasonal point production by connecting for eight more on the strength of a game-best six goals and two assists before exiting Martin County Arena.

Kyle Ahlschlager’s eight-point performance, combined with forward Charlie Huttemier’s hat trick and two-assist effort, engineered Waseca’s 12-4 triumph over the Fairmont Area Cardinals.

“Everything seemed to click tonight,” said the Bluejays’ second-year varsity player, who tallied 27 points in 25 games as a freshman in 2019-20. “My linemates did a great job of working to set me up, and the puck just kept going in the net.”

Ahlschlager’s post-game analysis proved as true as a shot off his hockey stick and Huttemier’s during the opening 17 minutes of ice action. Huttemier flipped home a left-to-right backhander off a blue line-to-blue line left-wing rush to open the first-period scoring for the Bluejays before Ahlschlager reeled off a natural hat trick for a 4-0 lead.

Ahlschlager unleashed a sizzling blast from the left wing off a Ben Moseley pass during a Waseca power play to double the gap to 2-0. Only 4 seconds later off a face-off, Kyle Ahlschlager utilized a hammered slapshot to find twine off Jarrett Ahlschlager’s assist for a three-goal margin.

Kyle Ahlschlager completed his hat trick by taking a lead pass from Huttemier, broke free along the left wing and wristed a shot into the top right shelf at the 5:11 juncture.

Ahlschlager exchanged roles with Huttemier, with Waseca’s senior forward netting his second goal of the game with 2:41 left in the first. Ahlschlager needed only 26 seconds to pick up the loose puck and score his fourth goal to cap a 6-0 lead by the first intermission.

Waseca starting goalie Ben Diedrich, who made 17 saves in the initial frame, exited the ice for the night, with Noah Mealy taking over netminding duties.

Eli Anderson needed only 43 seconds into the middle frame to deliver the Cardinals’ first goal of the night. Anderson flipped the puck inside the right pipe after rebounding Brock Lutterman’s initial shot that Mealy blocked.

Kyle Ahlschlager countered off a Huttemeier assist before Fairmont Area’s Carter Beebe reached the scoring column with a goal off a Carson Johnson assist at the 14:30 juncture.

Griffen Krautkremer and Ahlschlager generated back-to-back Waseca goals during a 28-second span midway through the second period before Lutterman and Hank Artz closed out the frame by scoring uninterrupted goals for the Cardinals. Lutterman cashed in a double-assist from Hudson Artz and Anderson for a right doorstep tap-in before Hank Artz drilled a right-wing slapshot into the webbing for a power-play goal with just 9 seconds left in the middle frame.

Moseley, Ryan Zimmerman and Huttemier then accounted for the three third-period goals for the Bluejays.

Fairmont Area goaltender Rachel O’Connor made a game-best 22 saves, while Mealy closed out the final two frames with a total of 21 stops.

Fairmont Area (0-2) completes the home-and-away seasonal series with the Bluejays (3-0) by traveling to Waseca on Tuesday night.

Waseca 6-3-3–12

Fairmont 0-4-0– 4

Scoring Plays

1st Period

WAS–Charlie Huttemier (unassisted), 10:33.

WAS–Kyle Ahlschlager (Ben Moseley), PP., 8:18.

WAS–Kyle Ahlschlager (Jarrett Ahlschlager), 8:14.

WAS–Kyle Ahlschlager (Huttemier), 5:11.

WAS–Charlie Huttemier (Kyle Ahlschlager), 2:41.

WAS–Kyle Ahlschlager (unassisted), 2:15.

2nd Period

FA–Eli Anderson (Brock Lutterman), 16:17.

WAS–Kyle Ahlschlager (Huttemier), 14:40.

FA–Carter Beebe (Carson Johnson), 14:30.

WAS–Griffen Krautkremer (unassisted), 10:55.

WAS–Kyle Ahlschlager (unassisted), 10:27.

FA–Brock Lutterman (Hudson Artz, Eli Anderson), 9:53.

FA–Hank Artz (unassisted), 0:09.

3rd Period

WAS–Ben Moseley (Kyle Ahlschlager), SH., 14:25.

WAS–Ryan Zimmerman (Griffen Krautkremer), 9:36.

WAS–Charlie Huttemier (Kyle Ahlschlager), 7:20.

Shots on goal: Fairmont Area 17-20-5–42; Waseca 18-9-7–34.

Saves: Rachel O’Connor (FA) 12-6-4–22; Ben Diedrich (WAS) 17-x-x–17, Noah Mealy (WAS) x-16-5–21.

Penalties: Fairmont Area 2 for 4 minutes; Waseca 4 for 8 minutes.

Power-play chances: Fairmont Area 1-for-4; Waseca 1-for-2.

•

Girls Hockey

Fairmont Area 7, Waseca 1 — Mackenzie Householder netted a second consecutive hat trick to help power the Cardinals to a six-goal triumph over the Bluejays during Big South Conference action Thursday night in Waseca.

Householder’s game-best three goals and one assist paced Fairmont Area’s second win in a row to open the coronavirus-condensed season.

The high-scoring junior defender accounted for the game’s only score of the opening period by cashing in an unassisted net-finding shot at the 14:21 juncture.

Bella Larson opened the second segment by scoring the first of her two goals on the contest. Larson converted an assist from Hannah Goerndt into a 2-0 Fairmont Area lead just 4:10 in the middle period.

Ahead 2-1, Goerndt and Larson traded roles, with Goerndt lighting the lamp off a pass from Larson to build a 3-1 lead at the 13:07 mark of the second frame.

Larson then extended the Cardinals’ margin to 4-1 by converting Corene Moeller’s assist into her second goal just 30 seconds later in the second.

Householder then recorded back-to-back goals to open the third period. The junior defender cashed in a helper from Alexis Newville only 31 seconds into the final frame before finding the twine at the 8:27 juncture off a double-assist from Macy Militello and Abi Sundeen.

Emily Sokoloski capped the Cardinals’ offensive highlights by netting a goal off a double-assist from Brooklyn Meyer and Householder at the 10:32 mark.

Cardinal goaltender Hadley Artz made nine saves to earn the victory between the pipes.

Fairmont Area (2-0) plays host to Waseca in the second part of an away-and-home seasonal series on Tuesday night at Martin County Arena.