Hockey Roundup: Willmar girls' comeback comes up short; River Lakes boys win

By Joe Brown, Tom Elliott, Michael Lyne

December 07, 2022 06:56 AM

WILLMAR — Trailing Sartell/Sauk Rapids 3-0, the Willmar girls hockey team scored a pair of goals in the first 44 seconds of the third period.

That tying goal proved elusive as the Storm’n Sabres left the Willmar Civic Center Arena with a 3-2 Central Lakes Conference victory Tuesday.

All three of Sartell/Sauk Rapids’ goals came in the second period courtesy of Tia Vogt, Megan Hess and Faith Torborg.

At the 26-second mark of the third, Willmar scored its first goal as Sophia Quinn buried the puck off an assist from Makenna Larson. Eighteen seconds later, Chloe Lownsbury made it a one-goal game, with Becca Dawson and Lauren Eilers each getting helpers on the play.

From there, Storm’n Sabres goaltender Brittney Wannarka kept the Cardinals off the board, finishing with 22 saves. Erin Eilers took the loss for Willmar after 31 saves.

Willmar goes on the road for a CLC game at 7:15 p.m. Thursday against Alexandria at the Runestone Community Center.

Girls

Sartell Sauk/Rapids 3, Willmar 2

Sartell/Sauk Rapids (2-6-0) 0 3 0 — 3
Willmar (5-2-0) 0 0 2 — 2
FIRST PERIOD – No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD – (1) SSR: Tia Vogt (Brayley VanDenBerg, Faith Torborg), 0:38 … (2) SSR: Megan Hess (Emily VanVickle), 3:04 PP … (3) SSR: Torborg (unassisted), 10:52.
THIRD PERIOD – (4) W: Sophia Quinn (Makenna Larson), 0:26 … (5) W: Chloe Lownsbury (Becca Dawson, Lauren Eilers), 0:44.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Sartell/Sauk Rapids: Brittney Wannarka 22/24 … Willmar: Erin Eilers 31/34.

Morris/Benson 6, Detroit Lakes 5, OT

Sporting the advantage on the power play, Karlie Bruns scored the game-winning goal in overtime to put Morris/Benson Area over Detroit Lakes at the Lee Community Center in Morris.

Both Bruns and teammate Kortney Sanasack had two goals and two assists for the Storm.

Detroit Lakes (1-7-0) 1 1 3 0 — 5
Morris/Benson Area (4-6-0) 2 1 2 1 — 6
FIRST PERIOD – (1) MBA: Aubree Ramirez (Molly Jones, Phoebe Overlie), 10:46 … (2) DL: Kaydence Thorsteinson (Haley Stattelman), 12:58 … (3) MBA: Charli Erdahl (Karlie Bruns, Kortney Sanasack), 15:07 PP.
SECOND PERIOD – (4) DL: Thorsteinson (unassisted), 6:39 … (5) MBA: Sanasack (Erdahl, Allison Michaelson), 14:22.
THIRD PERIOD – (6) MBA: Bruns (Sadie Koehler), 1:44 … (7) DL: Rhett Zima (Stormy Maaninga, Ivy Geffre), 2:08 … (8) DL: Brynn Erickson (unassisted), 3:14 … (9) MBA: Sanasack (Bruns, Erdahl), 7:24 … (10) DL: Stattelman (Zima), 16:09 PP.
OVERTIME – (11) MBA: Bruns (Sanasack, Erdahl), 4:32 PP.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Detroit Lakes: Talyn Anderson 42/48 … Morris/Benson Area: Ava Breuer 26/31.

Litchfield/D-C 3,Mankato East 1

Litchfield/D-C snapped its four-game losing streak against Mankato East in Mankato.

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Boys

Sauk Rapids 7, Willmar 4

Sauk Rapids scored four goals in the third period to beat Willmar in a Central Lakes Conference game at Sports Arena East in Sauk Rapids

“They got a couple of empty-netters at the end so the score was a little bit deceiving,” Willmar head coach Jamie Hagen said. “We played hard. We played good. We just had some mishaps in the ‘D’ zone. We took some untimely penalties late and they got us.”

Cullen Gregory and Ethan Stark each scored two goals for the Cardinals, who led 4-3 after two periods.

Willmar is host to a pair of games. The Cards play Morris/Benson Area at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Prairie Centre at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Willmar Civic Center Arena.

Willmar (2-1-0) 1 3 0 — 4
Sauk Rapids (1-2-0) 2 1 4 — 7
FIRST PERIOD – (1) W: Cullen Gregory (Izac Duran), 4:11 … (2) SR: Benjamin Kulus (Hunter Behling), 6:08 … (3) SR: Behling (Ethan Euteneur, Alex Johnson), 14:56.
SECOND PERIOD – (4) W: Gregory (Arron Fischer), 4:23 PP … (5) W: Ethan Stark (Dylan Staska), 5:32 … (6) SR: Luke Pakkala (Nolan Thell), 6:23 … (7) W: Stark (Jordan Gorans), 7:26.
THIRD PERIOD – (8) SR: Pakkala (Jackson Dhein), 5:44 PP … (9) SR: Teagan Dodge (Nick Anderson), 12:49 … (10) SR: Dodge (unassisted), 16:01 … (11) SR: Dodge (Dhein), 16:18 EN.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Willmar: Braxton Heid 25/31 … Sauk Rapids: Zander Parker 26/30.

River Lakes 4, Litchfield/D-C 4, OT

Down 4-1 through two periods, River Lakes put in three third-period goals to send its game with Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato to overtime. Neither the Stars or Dragons scored in the extra period, resulting in a non-conference tie at Litchfield Civic Arena

River Lakes (1-1-1) 0 1 3 0 — 4
Litchfield/D-C (3-0-1) 1 3 0 0 — 4