Junior hockey: Willmar WarHawks' season comes to a close

WILLMAR — A late surge sent the Granite City Lumberjacks into the next round of the Fraser Cup playoffs after getting a sweep over the Willmar WarHawks.

Three third-period goals lifted Granite City to a 4-2 victory Saturday in Game 2 of the best-of-three series in front of 515 fans at the Willmar Civic Center Arena. The Lumberjacks won Game 1 on Friday, 7-1.

The season comes to an end for the WarHawks, which finished fourth in the NA3HL West Division with a 20-25-2-0 regular-season record. Granite City won the West at 39-6-1-1.

The WarHawks led 2-0 in the first period. Hudson Zinda, a forward from Andover, opened the scoring with an unassisted tally at 18:48. Braydon Buckingham, a forward from Prior Lake, added the second goal at 19:17.

While Willmar out-shot St. Cloud 51-26, Granite City was the team that found the back of the net over the final two periods.

The Lumberjacks got a second-period, power-play goal from Lyncoln Bielenberg-Howarth. Then in the third, Reed Hanus tied the game at 11:41. Zak Kennett got the game-winning goal on his third score of the series at 12:13. Luke Delzer added an insurance goal at 19:32.

Granite City 4,Willmar 2
Granite City (41-6-1-1)          0     1     3 — 4
Willmar (20-27-2-0)           2     0     0 — 2
FIRST PERIOD –  (1) W: Hudson Zinda (unassisted), 18:48 … (2) W: Braydon Buckingham (Nik Johnson), 19:17. PENALTIES: (1) W: Brady Fairbanks (hooking-minor, 2 min), 9:55 … (2) W: Buckingham (hooking-minor, 2 min), 14:20 … (3) W: Michael Sweetland (cross checking-minor, 2 min), 16:29 … (4) W: Rory Smith (roughing-minor, 2 min), 19:45. 
SECOND PERIOD –  (3) GC: Lincoln Bielenberg-Howarth (Hayden Johnson), 10:33 PP. PENALTIES: (5) W: Sweetland (checking from behind-minor, 2 min), 9:30 … (6) GC: Jake Lange (head contact-minor, 2 min), 16:50.
THIRD PERIOD – (4) GC: Reed Hanus (Kyle Mortenson), 11:41 … (5) GC: Zak Kennett (unassisted), 12:13 … (6) GC: Luke Delzer (unassisted), 19:32. PENALTIES: (7) W: Hudson Zinda (interference-minor, 2 min), 18:56.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Granite City: Ryan Lehet 49/51 … Willmar: Michael D’Orazio 22/26.