WILLMAR — The Willmar boys hockey team knew Tuesday’s outcome against Breckenridge/Wahpeton was uncertain. It was, after all, the first game of the season.

But the Cardinals had no idea it was going to end in a 13-0 home victory.

Four Willmar players had multi-goal nights. Sophomore Cullen Gregory and senior Carter Schow scored three. And Samuel Beutow, Taton Hansen and Ethan Stark each scored two.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” head coach Jamie Hagen said. “We have an experienced team with a lot of returning players. The guys worked hard and played hard and we were happy with their performance.”

The Cardinals’ reigned heavy fire on Blades’ goalie Andrew Withuski, who faced 65 shots.

Willmar senior goalie Gavin Steinwand got the shutout with eight saves.

“We knew that we had a quicker, bigger and stronger team than we’ve had in the past,” Hagen said. “The goal was to just continue to move the puck, be quick but also patient so we could get good shots on net. That’s what they did.”

The Cardinals have a quick turnaround with a non-conference road game at Hutchinson at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Willmar 13,
B/W 0

B/W (0-0-0) 0 0 0 — 0

Willmar (1-0-0) 4 6 3 — 13

FIRST PERIOD – (1) W: Samuel Beutow (Jason Malmgren, Ethan Stark), 3:54 … (2) W: Taton Hansen (Malmgren), 6:06 SH … (3) W: Carter Schow (Jordan Gorans, Colin Bos), 8:25 … (4) W: Schow (Bos), 13:28.

SECOND PERIOD – (5) W: Hansen (Cullen Gregory, Izac Duran), 2:44 … (6) W: Malmgren (unassisted), 6:22 … (7) W: Beutow (Elijah Van Buren, Stark), 7:35 … (8) W: Gregory (Hansen, Mason Madsen), 9:46 … (9) W: Stark (Arron Fischer, Hansen), 16:07 … (10) W: Gregory (Malmgren, Fischer), 16:58.

THIRD PERIOD – (11) W: Stark (Beutow, Trenton Larson), 13:00 … (12) W: Gregory (Jordan Gorans, Henry Michelson), 15:31 … (13) W: Schow (Deiken Carruthers, Michelson), 16:31.

GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Breckenridge/Wahpeton: Andrew Withuski 52/65 … Willmar: Gavin Steinwand 8/8.

Hutchinson 3,
River Lakes 2

Brady Knorr was a one-man show for the Hutchinson offense, scoring all three of the Tigers’ goals for a hat trick in a non-conference win against River Lakes at the Richmond Civic Arena.

Knorr scored his first goal with five seconds left in the first period. Then in the second, he had two more late goals, with an unassisted mark at 14:08 and a short-hander at 16:55.

Bradey Blaschko got the Stars’ first goal at 8:24 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Then with 3:03 left to play, Bennett Schultz had an unassisted score that made it a one-goal game.

Hutchinson (1-0-0) 1 2 0 — 3

River Lakes (0-1-0) 0 1 1 — 2

FIRST PERIOD – (1) H: Brady Knorr (Emmett Reiter, KK Starrett), 16:55.

SECOND PERIOD – (2) RL: Bradey Blaschko (Cole Pientka), 8:24 … (3) H: Knorr (unassisted), 14:08 … (4) H: Knorr (Starrett, Gavin Hutchins), 16:55 SH.

THIRD PERIOD – (5) RL: Bennett Schultz (unassisted), 13:57.

GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Hutchinson: Hunter Lien 24/26 … River Lakes: Carson Cronquist 31/34.

W-DC 5, MBA 1

Aron Sutherland scored two goals and assisted on another to help Wadena-Deer Creek to the victory over the Morris/Benson Area Storm at Morris.

Cole Blume scored MBA’s lone goal at 14:45 of the first period on the power play.

W-DC (0-0-0) 1 4 0 — 5

MBA (0-0-0) 1 0 0 — 1

FIRST PERIOD – (1) WDC: Austyn Oothoudt (Cole Berglund) 11:42 … (2) MBA: Cole Blume (Tyler Hadfield, Trevor Buss) 14:45, PP.

SECOND PERIOD – (3) WDC: Aron Sutherland (Cole Woods) :51 … (4) WDC: Aidan Allred (Sutherland) 2:02 … (4) WDC: Woods (unassisted) 3:27 … (5) WDC: Sutherland (Brady Domeir) 9:52.

THIRD PERIOD – No scoring.

GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Wadena-Deer Creek: Gunnar Olson 34/35 … Morris/Benson Area: Christopher Danielson 23/28