Hockey roundup: Fergus Falls skates past River Lakes

FERGUS FALLS — The state-ranked Fergus Falls boys hockey team earned a 4-1 victory over River Lakes on Tuesday night.

The Otters scored single goals in the first and second periods and then took a 3-0 lead midway through the third before River Lakes struck. The Stars’ Bradey Blaschko scored at 11:11 with assists from Blake Schultz and Jacob Phillippi.

Fergus Falls, ranked sixth in Class A, then sealed it with an empty-net goal by Isaac Johnson with 10 seconds remaining.

Fergus Falls is now 6-4 in the Central Lakes Conference. River Lakes fell to 3-6 in the conference.

The Stars play Willmar at 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Willmar Civic Center.

Fergus Falls 4, River Lakes 1

River Lakes (10-12)          0     0     1 — 1
Fergus Falls  (15-7)           1     1     2 — 4

FIRST PERIOD –  (1) FF: Brayden Nelson (Cole Wentworth, Landon Thacker) 6:27.
SECOND PERIOD –  (2) FF: Carter Thielke (Michael DeBrito, Isaac Johnson) 14:46, PP
THIRD PERIOD – (3) FF: Kellen Stenstrom (Shane Zierden, Thielke) 7:06 … (4) RL: Bradey Blaschko (Blake Schultz, Jacob Philiippi) 11:11 … (5) FF: Johnson (Thielke) 16:50, EN. 
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – River Lakes: Ashton Fischer 33/36 … Fergus Falls: Ben Swanson 21/22

Brainerd improved its Central Lakes Conference record to 2-4-1 with the victory at Willmar.

The Cardinals, who are 0-9 in the CLC, got 35 saves in goal from Gavin Steinwand.

Jed Klang made 19 saves to record the shutout.

Willmar plays host to River Lakes at 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Willmar Civic Center.

Brainerd (3-16-1)          2     2     2 — 6
Willmar (5-15)               0     0     0 — 0
FIRST PERIOD –  (1) B: not available … (2) B: not available.
SECOND PERIOD –  (3) B: Alex Jones (Hairrson Seymour) … (4) B: Seymour (unassisted), SH. 
THIRD PERIOD – (5): B: Jones (unassisted) … (6) B: Mitch Brau (Jones)
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – Brainerd: Jed Klang 19/19 … Willmar: Gavin Steinwand 35/41

State-ranked Delano scored a short-handed goal with 15 seconds left to beat Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato at Delano.

The Tigers, ranked fourth in Class A, got the game-winner from Gunnar Paulson at 16:45.

For the Dragons, Conner Tabor, Grant Grochow and Gavyn Lund scored goals.

Litchfield/D-C was out-shot 33-17.

The Dragons play Hutchinson at 7 p.m. Friday at the Litchfield Civic Arena.

Litchfield/D-C (13-8-1)          1     1     1 — 3
Delano (15-6)                         1     0     3 — 4
FIRST PERIOD –  (1) D: Bruce Halonen (Anders Peterson) 1:11 … (2) LDC: Conner Taber (Gavin Hanson) 2:09.
SECOND PERIOD –  (3) LDC: Grant Grochow (Zachary Zwilling) 13:41. 
THIRD PERIOD – (4): D: Aaron Lewis (Karl Halonen, Aiden Leaver) 5:36 … (5) D: B. Halonen (Teague Collings, Colin Lommel) 13:00 … (6) LDC: Gavyn Lund (Jack Hillmann) 13:41 … (7) D: Gunnar Paulson (unassisted) 16:45, SH.
GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS – LDC: Travis Halonen 29/33 … D: Tommy Huotari 14/17

The St. Cloud Icebreakers improved to 6-5-1 in the Central Lakes Conference with the victory over River Lakes at Richmond.

St. Cloud, a co-op of Tech, Apollo and Cathedral High Schools, is 14-9-2 overall.

River Lakes fell to 3-6 in the CLC and 14-12 overall.

The Stars’ next game will be in the Section 6A playoffs. River Lakes is the No. 2 seed. It will play the winner of No. 6 Morris/Benson at No. 3 Northern Lakes. Those two meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in Pequot Lakes. River Lakes then is host to the winner at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 at Richmond.

Fergus Falls received the top seed in the tournament. The Otters play the winner of No. 5 Prairie Centre at No. 4 Willmar at 7 p.m. Thursday. That game will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 at Fergus Falls.

The section final is Friday, Feb. 18 at the Runestone Community Center in Alexandria.