Boys hockey: Apollo soars past Cards

WILLMAR — Jared Christen, one of Section 6A’s leading scorers, netted the first five goals for St. Cloud Apollo Thursday as the Eagles soared past the Willmar Cardinals 6-2 in a Central Lakes Conference game.
Ryan Woltjer scored 10 seconds into the game on feeds from Zech Streed and Trey Tollefson for Willmar, but it was all Christen and Apollo after that.
“Nothing flashy,” said Willmar coach Dan Tollefson of the Eagles’ play. “They just played solid hockey and generated a lot of shots. We made a couple of mistakes and that got the ball rolling for them.”
Willmar was held to 12 shots on goal, including just two in the middle frame. Hunter Schneider scored six minutes into the second period for Willmar’s other goal.
The Cardinals have a week off before playing in a three-day tournament at Little Falls from Dec. 27-29.
SC Apollo 6, Willmar 2
SC Apollo (3-1, 6-3) 2 3 1 — 6
Willmar (0-4-1, 4-4-1) 1 1 0 — 2
FIRST PERIOD – Wil: Ryan Woltjer (Zech Streed, Trey Tollefson) :10 … SCA: Jared Christen (unassisted) 6:00 … SCA: Christen (Jason Omann, Paul Kenney) 10:53
SECOND PERIOD – SCA: Christen (Omann, Brandon Bloch) 5:53 … Wil: Hunter Schneider (Tollefson) 6:13 … SCA: Christen (Omann) 12:12 … SCA: Christen (Omann) 16:59
THIRD PERIOD – SCA: Kenney (Christen) 11:22
GOALIE SAVES – St. Cloud Apollo: Nick Althaus 4-1-5-10 … Willmar: Joey Benson 18-11-6-35