Willmar came out of the pause with a weekend sweep of the Blizzard and Lumberjacks on their home ice. On Friday the Warhawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 12 minutes against Alexandria. Cole Wigestrand opened the scoring with his 3rd of the year on assists from Jack Willis and Brady O’Brien. Later Ben Johnson and Dylan Gajewski scored :45 seconds apart. Michael Sweetland and Henry Andres assisted on Johnson’s 3rd of the year, and it was Alex Kupka and Lewis Rowan assisting on Gajewski’s first of the year. Alex Kupka and Jeremiah Konkel added two more goals for Willmar in the 2nd period to give the Warhawks a 5-1 lead heading into the third which was more than enough after the 5-2 final. Lewis Rowan, Elbridge DeKraai, and Tanner Hallett picked up assists in the 2nd period, and Lukas Haugen had 29 saves for the victory in net. Willis and Kupka had multi point games.
Saturday night the Warhawks followed that script with 3 more first period goals and added 3 third period goals for a 6-1 victory over Granite City. Ethan Mock, on assists from Jack Willis and Michael Sweetland, opened the scoring two and a half minutes in. Midway through the first Sweetland increased the lead to 2-0, while Ben Luedtke scored his first of the year on the power play a couple minutes later. Leading 3-1 in the third period, the Warhawks poured it on with two goals from Sweetland completing his hat trick, and Alex Kupka scoring his 2nd in as many nights. Jack Willis pitched in 4 assists, while Brady O’Brien picked up 3 assists, and Will Pinney stopped 34 of 35 shots for the win in between the pipes.
Willmar (7-9) is tied with Granite City for 2nd place in the West. They head out on the road this week traveling to Alexandria for a 7:10 pm start on Wednesday, and a 7:30 start at North Iowa on Saturday. If you’re looking to make the trip to Alexandria on Wednesday get your tickets online at tickets.alexandriablizzard.com or watch all the action on hockeytv.com
