Girls hockey: Storm powers past Willmar

WILLMAR -- The visiting Sabre/Storm took the ice with wings on their skates and blistered Willmar with four goals in the first 15 minutes at the Civic Center on Thursday.

The lead held up and Satall/Sauk Rapids captured the Central Lakes Conference meeting with Willmar 4-1.

Caitlin Halupczok beat Cardinals' goalie Madison Sandberg in the first minute and assisted linemate Sarah Kaschmitter at 4:49 for a 2-0 lead.

Willmar held SSR scoreless over the final two periods but only got one back -- a goal by Riley Schneider assisted by Miranda Roelofs and Shelby Schneider in the seventh minute of the middle frame.

Shots were about even.

Sandberg finished with 19 saves and SSR goalie Erin Deters 23.

SSR leads the CLC with a 3-0 record and hiked their overall record to 5-1-1.

"Sartell is a very good team but I thought they got some lucky bounces in the first period," said Cardinals head coach JaColby Anderson. "We beat them two thirds of the game, I thought. The girls kept their heads high at the end of a tough loss."

Willmar (0-2, 4-2) heads to Cambridge Saturday to play the Bluejackets.

Sartell/Sauk Rapids 4, Willmar 1

Sartell/SR (3-0, 5-1-1).........4 0 0 -- 4

Willmar (0-2, 4-2)................0 1 0 -- 1

FIRST PERIOD - SSR: Caitlin Halupczok (Sarah Kaschmitter, Lexi Holman) :32 ... SSR: Kaschmitter (Holman, Halupczok) 4:49 ... SSR: Ashley Raduns 7:17 SSR: Ahna Richardson (Margaret innerath) 14:46

SECOND PERIOD - W: Riley Schneider (Miranda Roelofs, Shelby Schneider) 6:16

THIRD PERIOD - no scoring

GOALIE SAVES - Sartell/Sauk Rapids: Erin Deters 11-5-7-23 ... Willmar: Madison Sandberg 5-8-6-19