Holt hat trick helps WarHawks to victory
BREEZY POINT — Held off the scoreboard six days prior in arguably its worst performance of the season, the Willmar WarHawks bounced back Friday against Breezy Point thanks in large part to the team’s captain: Brandon Holt.
Guiding the WarHawks to a 5-1 road victory, the 5-foot-10 forward from Madison Heights, Mich. had a role in each of his team’s goals inside of the Breezy Point Hockey Center.
Assisted by Jake Santarelli and Dylan Svoboda, Holt scored the game’s opening goal when he pushed a shot past North Stars goaltender Griffin Foster at the 13-minute, 52 second-mark of the first period. Less than five minutes later, he notched his second goal on an unassisted effort to give the visitors a 3-0 cushion.
Holt completed his hat trick 11:38 into the third period on another unassisted score.
When he wasn’t doing it himself, the forward dished out helpers, as he and Zack Bender were credited with assists on an Eli Slagter goal in the first period. Holt again connected with Slagter just 14 seconds into the second to give the WarHawks (7-4-1) a 4-0 advantage.
Brandan Premo finally got Breezy Point (3-11-1) on the board later in the second, but that was the only shot that made its way by Luke Weberg, who finished with 30 saves to pick up the win in net.
Meanwhile, Willmar put up 40 shots, 35 of which were stopped by Foster.
On Saturday at 7:10 p.m., the WarHawks will be visitors again as they will take on New Ulm.
