Junior hockey: WarHawks late scoring spurt makes the difference
Jan. 29—BREEZY POINT — A four-goal third period fueled the Willmar WarHawks to a 9-6 NA3HL victory over the Minnesota Loons on Saturday at Breezy Point Hockey Center.
Trailing 6-5 with under 12 minutes remaining, Hudson Zinda scored his first goal with the WarHawks to tie the game at 8 minutes, 4 seconds. Gunnar Sibley put Willmar ahead 7-6 with a power-play tally at 11:19 of the third period.
Willmar went on to add insurance goals at 13:30 from captain Michael Sweetland and 18:41 from Sam Holm short-handed on an empty net.
Zinda, from Andover, has one goal and four assists in two games since joining the Warhawks on Friday. He added three assists to his one goal to help Willmar complete its comeback.
Sweetland, from Stillwater, added two assists to his 13th goal of the season. He has a team-high 41 points in 32 games this season.
Luke McCarthy, from Cottage Grove, had a pair of goals for Willmar. He has four goals and four assists in his last four games.
The WarHawks play Alexandria at 7:10 p.m. Friday at Runestone Community Center in Alexandria.
Willmar (15-18-2-0) 0 5 4 — 9
Minnesota (10-25-1-1) 2 2 2 — 6
FIRST PERIOD — (1) M: Sebastian Schuehle (Donovan Knuckles, Evan Fritze), 1:06 ... (2) M: Gavyn Lund (Cooper Brackett), 18:53. PENALTIES: (1) M: George Moore (tripping-minor), 7:08 ... (2) W: Jake Hosszu (tripping-minor), 13:36 ... (3) W: Michael Sweetland (tripping-minor), 15:45 ... (4) W: Hosszu (roughing-minor), 20:00 ... (5) M: Schuehle (roughing-minor), 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD — (3) W: Luke McCarthy (Christian Kankelfritz), 4:03 PP ... (4) W: Denys Honcharenko (Sweetland), 5:15 ... (5) W: Blaise Schutt (Tyler Misialek), 7:05 ... (6) W: McCarthy (Caleb Roehrich, Schutt), 10:25 PP ... (7) M: Jacob Behnke (Jack Hanson), 10:41 ... (8) W: Hosszu (Hudson Zinda, Roehrich), 12:01 ... (9) M: George Moore (Janic Kennedy), 14:45 PP. PENALTIES: (6) M: Lund (slashing-minor), 2:16 ... (7) M: Moore (high sticking-minor), 9:05 ... (8) W: Sweetland (cross checking-minor), 12:51 ... (9) W: Hosszu (roughing-minor), 13:34 ... (10) M: Josiah Lambers (roughing-minor), 13:34 ... (11) W: Rory Smith (holding-minor) ... (12) W: Luc Corbin (unsportsmanlike conduct-minor), 19:59 ... (13) W: Owen Johnston (slashing-minor), 20:00.
THIRD PERIOD — (10) M: Moore (Evan Fritze, Corbin Schiebel), 1:37 PP ... (11) M: Jack Hanson (Schuehle, Kyler Couture), 2:26 ... (12) W: Zinda (unassisted), 8:04 ... (13) W: Gunnar Sibley (Sweetland, Zinda), 11:19 PP ... (14) W: Sweetland (Honcharenko, Zinda), 13:30 ... (15) W: Sam Holm (Michael D'Orazio, Kankelfritz), 18:41 EN, SH. PENALTIES: (14) M: Fritze (slashing-minor), 5:05 ... (15) W: Jordan Fields (tripping-minor), 8:23 ... (16) M: Couture (high sticking-minor), 10:39 ... (17) W: Roehrich (unsportsmanlike conduct-minor), 15:38 ... (18) W: McCarthy (slashing-minor), 17:03 ... (19) M: Brackett (interference-minor), 18:50.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS — Willmar: D'Orazio 33/39 ... Minnesota: Janic Kennedy 30/38
