Boys hockey: Plenty of shots but no goals for Cards

SAUK RAPIDS — The Willmar Cardinals ran into another hot goalie falling to Sauk Rapids on Thursday in Central Lakes Conference boys hockey 4-0.
The Cards outshot the Storm by 10 shots, 34 to 24. Will Mortenson got the shutout.
The Cards showed an 11 to 8 edge in shots the first 17 minutes, but the Storm feasted on two Willmar turnovers in their defensive zone to score twice for a 2-0 lead through one. Both teams had a goal disallowed, Willmar’s in the game’s first 40 seconds.
The Cardinals controlled the puck but couldn’t score while benefiting from a major (check-from-behind) plus an overlapping minor that gave Willmar just under 7 minutes of power play in in the second period. When the sides went back to full strength, Sauk’s Matt Meyer scored his second goal to make it 3-0.
Willmar (1-7-1, 10-8-1), which lost 7-3 to the Storm (4-7, 5-12-1) on Dec. 11 at Willmar, came in on a three-game win streak.
“We couldn’t find a way to get it to the back of the net,” said Willmar coach Dan Tollefson. “(Sauk Rapids) made the most of their opportunities and their goalie played well.”
Thursday at Willmar, the Cardinals play the first game of a boy-girl double header with Alexandria with a 5:15 start for the boys game on Pack the Arena Night (Youth players wearing team sweater get in free).
Sauk Rapids 4, Willmar 0
Willmar (1-6-1, 10-7-1) 0 0 0 — 0
Sauk Rapids (3-7, 4-12-1) 2 1 1 — 4
FIRST PERIOD – SR: Matt Meyer (Travis Kothenbeutel) 7:45 … SR: Ryan Rutar (Wyatt Orth) 15:45
SECOND PERIOD – SR: Meyer (Luke Althaus) 12:36
THIRD PERIOD – SR: Brandon Duray (Althaus, Kothenbeutel) 10:46, pp
GOALIE SAVES – W: Joey Benson 24-20 … SR: Will Mortneson 34-34