PREP BOYS HOCKEY: Cardinals fall to Spartans

BLAINE — Despite a game-tying goal by Toby Sengvongxay in the second period, the Luverne Cardinals fell to the Somerset Spartans 4-3 in overtime Wednesday in the first round of the boys hockey Open Varsity division at the Schwan Cup.

The Cardinals outshot the Spartans 30-22, but were unable to produce the game-winning goal to advance to the winners’ bracket in overtime.

Somerset opened the scoring 58 seconds into the game on a shot by Reed Baillargeon to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead. Baillargeon scored 5 minutes later to push Somerset’s lead to two.

The Cardinals got on the board with less than 2 minutes left in the first when Skyler Wenninger put the puck past Spartan goalie Jordan Langness to make it 2-1.

A goal by Aaron Moore at 15:52 in the second period gave Somerset a 3-1 lead, but a goal by Luverne’s Logan Norman less than a minute later pulled the Cardinals within one.

Sengvongxay took advantage of an interference penalty taken by Somerset’s Dalton Lyons 13 minutes, 10 seconds in the second period to tie the game at three apiece.

Neither team scored in the third frame, so the game was forced into overtime, where Reed Kelly picked up the game-winning goal eight minutes into extra time to give the Spartans the win.

Luverne goalie Kendall Meyer stopped 18 of 22 shots in the game, while Langness made 27 saves on 30 shots. Both teams took just one penalty in the game, but only the Cardinals capitalized with the extra man.

The Cardinals move on to the consolation bracket with the loss and will take on the Hudson Raiders of Hudson, Wisconsin today in the second round.

Somerset 2 1 0 1 — 4

Luverne 1 2 0 0 — 3

Tags: sports, prep, boys, hockey, luverne