THE WILLMAR WARHAWKS ARE MAKING UP GROUND
The WarHawks began 4 their game stretch in 5 days Friday Dec. 15 Home vs the Minnesota Loons. WarHawks outshot the Loons with an outstanding 71 shots. 71 to the Loons 42 shots. Yet the score was much tighter. Loons Goalie with some jaw dropping saves kept the score low. The Loons even put up the 1st goal halfway through the 2nd Period. Willmar’s Nathan Hinze scored his first as a WarHawk in response less than a minute later. Loons would find the back of the net once more in the 2nd period. Where the WarHawks found themselves in penalty trouble in the 3rd they were the only team to score in the period coming from Luke McCarthy for the game tying goal forcing Overtime. The WarHawks got 7 shots on net in OT but could not get one past Loons net minder. Along came shootout, Luke McCarthy scored once more being the only goal needed for the victory as WarHawks goalie Jesse Easterwood saved all 3 Loons shots.
NA3HL SHOWCASE
With the highly anticipated event, the NA3HL showcase. The WarHawks were matched up to face the Butte Irish (Frontier Division), Austin IceBats (South Division), and Wisconsin Woodsmen (Central Division) over the 3 day stretch.
Day 1: WarHawks faced a big Butte Irish team. But the WarHawks came with speed to out luck the Irish. Tyler Misialek scoring 1:23 into the game got the WarHawks on the board early. Followed by a goal from Nik Johnson and again from Tyler Misialek. In the 2nd period Hudson scored his 1st goal as a WarHawk with a shot from the point. Other goals coming from Spencer Bergman and Shane Dean. Willmar had a strong handle of the game at that point adding a 7th goal by Hudson Zinda. Butte did jump on an opportunity off a turnover to score their only goal. Hudson Zinda finished the scoring with his 2nd of the game. Giving the WarHawks the 8-1 Victory. Jesse Easterwood earning the Victory for his 2nd in a row.
Day 2: Pure domination from the WarHawks where they out shot the IceBats 55 to 9. Josh Mack in net earned his 1st junior shutout. Willmar’s goals coming from Shane Dean in the 1st period. In the 2nd Period Spencer Bergman, Gus Cantwell, and Zane Irion each added a goal. Heading into the 3rd period up 4-0. Willmar went on to add 3 more getting scoring from Zane Irion, Luke McCarthy, and Dome Szabo. WarHawks with the win 7-0 over the IceBats.
Day 3: Willmar faced their toughest challenge of the showcase playing the Wisconsin Woodsmen. Willmar led the scoring with their top goal scorer on the season Tyler Misialek 8:01 into the 1st period. Misialek returned back to score his 2nd of the game 10:53 in the 1st period widening the gap to 2. Woodsmen would tally a PowerPlay goal in the dwindling seconds of the 1st period. Ending the period at 2-1. Competitive play between the 2 teams with good goaltending. Jumping to the 3rd period where the score remained 2-1 until 18:29 into the 3rd period where Gus Cantwell scored an empty netter while recording his 100th junior hockey point. An additional insurance goal was added by Shane Dean of the WarHawks again on the empty net. Kai Girard 28 of 29 shots recording the win. That puts the winning streak to 6 for the WarHawks as they entered Christmas Break.
WarHawks will be back in action before you know it. Where they will host the Rochester Grizzlies back at the Willmar Civic Center this Saturday Dec. 30. 7:10PM puck drop. Don’t miss out! Grab your tickets at https://tickets.willmarwarhawks.com/
