LOCKED ON TARGET — Fairmont Area’s Lincoln Becker (8) eyes the path to the net before firing a shot against New Ulm during Section 3A quarterfinal hockey action Friday night at the New Ulm Civic Center. Fairmont Area’s Beau Becker (back) watches the play. (Photo courtesy of Travis Rosenau of the New Ulm Journal)

NEW ULM — The No. 1-seeded New Ulm Eagles capitalized on three of its seven power-play opportunities and utilized a balanced scoring attack to shut out the No. 8-seeded Fairmont Area Cardinals, 7-0, during Section 3A quarterfinal hockey action Friday night at the New Ulm Civic Center.

Class A No. 10 state-ranked New Ulm (22-3-1) advances to face No. 4-seeded Mankato West (8-15-3) in a 6 p.m. sectional semifinal on Monday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink inside the Lund Center on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter. The Scarlets edged No. 5-seeded Marshall, 5-4, to reach the next round.

Fairmont Area closed out the season with an 8-19 overall record.

After nearly 10 minutes of shutout action, the Eagles needed only a 12-second span to reel off back-to-back goals. Dawson Kraus netted an unassisted net-finding shot 7:08 into the opening frame before Nick Zins cashed in a double-assist from Ian Brudelia and Blake Soukup for a quick 2-0 lead.

Landon Barstad then generated the first of his game-best two goals via the power play to extend New Ulm’s margin to 3-0 at the 12:31 juncture. Zins and Talan Helget combined to set up Barstad for the twine-finder.

Barstad then picked up in the second period where he left off in the first by lighting the lamp off a Brody Wenner pass 3:38 into the middle segment.

Helget then delivered an assist to Taylor Hansen for the Eagles’ fifth goal only 41 seconds later before New Ulm closed out the playoff game with back-to-back power-play scores.

Austin Uecker smacked the puck into the webbing off an assist from Jack Albrecht while holding a one-player advantage on the ice 9:04 into the second frame.

Albrecht then traded roles and knocked home his own power-play goal off a pass from Brudelie just 5:06 into the third and final period.

Fairmont Area netminder Carson Johnson turned away a game-leading 40 shots, while New Ulm goaltender Bryer Hoffmann collected the shutout win by recording 11 saves.

Nate Rakness, Brock Lutterman, Lincoln Becker, Hartley Aust, Beau Becker, Matthew Steuber and Kaiden Musser all closed out their senior seasons for the Cardinals.

New Ulm also swept the regular-season two-game series with Fairmont Area, 11-2 on Dec. 8 and 7-1 on Jan. 24.

Fairmont    0-0-0–0

New Ulm     3-3-1–7

Scoring Plays

1st Period

NU–Dawson Kraus (unassisted), 7:08.

NU–Nick Zins (Ian Brudelie, Blake Soukup), 7:20.

NU–Landon Barstad (Nick Zins, Talan Helget), PP., 12:31.

2nd Period

NU–Landon Barstad (Brody Wenner), 3:38.

NU–Taylor Hansen (Talan Helget), 4:19.

NU–Austin Uecker (Jack Albrecht), PP., 9:04.

3rd Period

NU–Jack Albrecht (Ian Brudelia), PP., 5:06.

Shots on goal: Fairmont Area 4-6-1–11; New Ulm 10-22-15–47.

Saves: Carson Johnson (FMT) 40; Bryer Hoffmann (NU) 11.

Penalties: Fairmont Area 7 for 14 minutes; New Ulm 2 for 4 minutes.

Power-play chances: New Ulm 3 for 7; Fairmont Area 0 for 2.