Junior hockey: Lumberjacks rally to beat WarHawks

SAUK RAPIDS — The Granite City Lumberjacks opened up a tied game with five third-period goals to beat the Willmar WarHawks 7-2 Friday night at the Armadillo Deck Sports Arena.

Granite City leads the NA3HL West Division with a 34-3-0-1 record. Willmar is 15-21-2-0.

Willmar led 1-0 after one period. Michael Sweetland, the forward from Stillwater, scored his 14th goal of the season with assists from Hudson Dinda and Luke McCarthy at 2:07.

Granite City scored the first two goals of the second period before Nik Johnson got on the board for the WarHawks at 12:00 of the second period. Johnson, a forward from Minneapolis, has three goals and six assists in 34 games this season. Jordan Fields and Spencer Bergman assisted on the play.

The third period was all Lumberjacks. Two of Granite City’s goals came in the final minute.

Willmar plays Granite City again at 7:10 p.m. Saturday at Willmar Civic Center Arena.

Willmar (15-21-2-0)                1     1     0 — 2
Granite City (34-3-0-1)           0     2     5 — 7

FIRST PERIOD –  (1) W: Michael Sweetland 14 (Hudson Dinda, Luke McCarthy) 2:07 … PENALTIES: (1) W: Gavin Simon (tripping-minor, 2 min) 6:17 … (2) W: Brady Fairbanks (tripping-minor, 2 min) 9:09. 
SECOND PERIOD –  (2) GC: Coby Weber 10 (Jacob McPartland, Reed Hanus) 4:33 … (3) GC: Hayden Johnson 14 (Parker Mitchell, Easton Portner) 11:25 … (4) W: Nik Johnson 3 (Jordan Fields, Spencer Bergman) 12:00 … PENALTIES: (3) GC: Weber (boarding-minor, 2 min) 12:30.
THIRD PERIOD – (5) GC: Luke Delzer 13 (Tanner Brouwer, Parker Comstock) 1:33 … (6) GC:  Weber 17 (unassisted) … (7) GC: Zac Kennett 8 (Jake Lange, Kyle Mortenson) 18:22 … (8) GC: Portner 1 (unassisted) 19:01, EN … (9) GC: Tanner Brouwer 3 (Sam Brennan) 19:19  … PENALTIES: (4) GC: Nolan Widman (interference-minor, 2 min) 5:04 … (5) W: Tyler Misialek (unsportsmanlike conduct-minor, 2 min) 5:43 … (6) W: Zinda (roughing-minor, 2 min) 10:37 … (7) GC: Comstock (roughing-minor, 2 min) 10:37.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Willmar: Michael D’Orazio 38/44 … Granite City: Ryan Lehet 24/26