Scoring six unanswered goals to break free from a 1-1 tie, the Luverne High School boys hockey team dispatched Worthington 7-1 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Section 3A tournament at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
Third-seeded Luverne, 15-10, will play second-seeded Mankato East Saturday (Feb. 26) at All Seasons Event Center in Mankato in the semifinal round, beginning at 4 p.m. In another semifinal game Saturday, Windom Area will play New Ulm in New Ulm at 4 p.m.
The finals will be at Mayo Health System Events Center in Mankato on March 2.
Fifth-seeded Windom Area defeated fourth-seeded Marshall 7-1 in its Thursday game while Mankato East beat seventh-seeded Mankato West 6-0. Top-seeded New Ulm beat eighth-seeded Fairmont 10-1.
Luverne 7, Worthington 1
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LUVERNE -- After a scoreless deadlock in the first period, the Cardinals’ Brock Behrend scored for Luverne in the second, but Worthington’s Konner Honius answered -- with assists from Blake Luinenburg and Alec Langerud -- to even things.
Luverne scored three more goals in the second period and added three in the third, holding the Trojans scoreless. Blaik Bork and Jack Schlosser found the net, then Behrend scored the next two goals for his hat trick. Elliot Domagala put in the last two.
Worthington, the sixth seed of the tournament, finishes the year with a 12-14 record.
Luverne’s victory over Worthington was the third this season, though the Trojans came within a point, 5-4, in the two team’s second meeting. In the first, Luverne won 6-3.
“Credit to Luverne. They came out fast right away. We couldn’t match it. Our guys played hard, it just didn’t bounce our way,” said WHS head coach Tyler Nienkerk.
The 0-0 first period tie inspired optimism, at least for a moment, as senior goalkeeper Steven Adams stopped 18 Luverne shot attempts.
“We thought we weathered the storm in the first. Steven played very, very well in the first to keep it at zero-zero. They (the Cardinals) just never slowed down,” Nienkerk said.
For the game, Luverne out-shot Worthington 39-26.
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Luverne head coach Phil Paquette testified to Adams’ strong first period.
“I was really happy with our effort,” he said. “Obviously, our effort was there and the chances were there. Their goalkeeper stood tall and he stopped everything.”
Paquette said the Cards will need to be at the top of their game against Mankato East.
“They have outstanding goaltending and they’ve had a great season. We’re hoping we can just go out there and play perfect hockey. That’s what it’s going to take,” Paquette declared.
Worthington 0 1 0 -- 1
Luverne 0 4 3 -- 7
Windom Area 7, Marshall 1
MARSHALL -- The visiting Eagles held a 6-0 lead on Marshall before the Tigers scored their only goal in the third period, by Zach Kramer.
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Wriley Haugen had two goals for Windom Area, the first and the sixth. Other goals were scored by Zach Espenson, Brady Espenson, Ethan Purrington, Cragen Porath and Vance Koch.
Windom Area out-shot Marshall 31-21.
Windom Area 2 3 2 -- 7
Marshall 0 0 1 -- 1
