Staff Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Gavin Kester rifles a shot in the opening moments of Tuesday night's contest against Redwood Valley at Martin County Arena.

FAIRMONT – The Fairmont boys hockey team used hot starts in the first and second period to power past Redwood Valley 8-6 on Tuesday night in a Big South Conference boys hockey game at Martin County Arena.

This victory moves Fairmont to 3-1 on the season, the best start this program has experienced in over 10 years.

“It’s always good to get a win, and any win is a good win,” Fairmont head coach Paul Carlson said. “We know the kids have a better game in them than what they had tonight, but still hanging on to win is always good.”

Fairmont’s Klay Beemer notched a hat trick and two assists on the night. Preston Cepress and Gavin Kester each ripped two goals past the net, respectively. Fairmont netminder Kaden Olson racked up 30 saves on his way to picking up the win.

Fairmont set the tone immediately in the first period, rattling home a goal during the first 11 seconds to take the immediate advantage. After breaking away from Redwood Valley’s backline, Beemer found Kester for a timely give-and-go in front of the net, punching one past the nylon for a tone setting score.

Fairmont continued to control the puck for a majority of the period, using crisp passing and movement to get a handful of solid opportunities at the net. Kester finally broke through again, this time unassisted, sliding into center ice from the right side before banging the puck on the left crossbar for his second strike of the evening.

It was Beemer’s time to get in on the action with just over six minutes left before intermission. An Axel Chapman pass set up a breakaway for the Fairmont senior down the right side of the ice. After using some nifty stick work to distract Redwood Valley goalkeeper Brecken Erickson, Beemer touched twine with a strike at the net to give his team the 3-0 cushion heading to break.

“We had some good early fast breaks that resulted in those goals in that period, and got us up early really quick,” Carlson said.

Despite Beemer ripping another score during the first minute of the second period, Redwood Valley began to string together some impressive looks at the net, forcing Olson to collect three quick saves after being undisturbed all night.

Redwood Valley finally struck back with a handful of goals of their own with 10 minutes remaining in the period. Nicholas Cotner found the net after shooting the puck right in front of his bench, while Landon Stoneberg made the game even more interesting after connecting on a breakaway chance to make the score 4-2.

Fairmont responded, however, as well as Carlson and other head coach Scott Nuss could have drawn up over the last seven minutes of the period.

A Cepress strike from the right side of the net unleashed a four goal spark that ultimately put the contest out of reach heading into period three. Caleb Meyer rang one home from outside the neutral zone before Beemer recorded his third and final goal with 41 seconds left before intermission.

Redwood Valley made things interesting by scoring four goals throughout the last 12 minutes of the contest. They outshot Fairmont 17-6 in the final period, dominating time of possession and forcing the home team into a handful of mistakes in the defensive zone.

“When you get a lead like we had, you have to remember that hockey is a game where the momentum can change quickly, and you can go from a comfortable lead to hanging onto a game pretty quick,” Carlson said.

Fairmont (3-1) will travel to Minnesota River this Thursday with the contest set to start at 7:15 p.m.