The Willmar Warhawks travelled to North Iowa Friday night to kick off a busy weekend. Jordan Fjosne scored his first of the season to give the Warhawks a 1-0 lead with assists from Austin Jozwick and Cole Wigestrand. North Iowa tied the game a few minutes later, then took a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Willmar came back to tie the game at the 12:15 mark of the 2nd period. It was Louis Anders 2nd of the year on the power play with assists going to Wigestrand and Jack Willis. But North Iowa answered with two more goals for a 4-2 lead heading into the third. Willmar’s Tanner hallet and Owen Thomas set up Michael Sweetland for his 4th goal of the year early in the 3rd to give the Warhawks some hope of a comeback, but the Bulls added two more later in the third and skated away with the 6-3 victory.
Saturday Night the Warhawks traveled to New Ulm to take on the Steel. Willmar led 1-0 after the first on Owen Thomas’s 2nd goal of the season. Jack Willis, and Michael Sweetland picked up the assists. New Ulm scored the only two goals in the second period, but Willmar staged a third period comeback. Ryne Morhman scored his 1st of the year to tie the game at 2-2 four minutes into the third. Willmar then took a late lead when Owen Thomas scored a huge power play goal with just over two minutes to play. Morhman and Brady O’Brien assisted on Thomas’s 3rd of the year and second of the game. New Ulm came back with some late magic scoring with just 20 second left to force OT. Ryne Morhman gave Willmar the victory just under three minutes in with Louis Anders and Ethan Light getting the game winning assists. Burian Hunter stopped 32-35 for his 1st win of the season.
Sunday Willmar pulled off the home and home sweep with 4-1 victory over New Ulm. The Warhawks got a late power play goal at the end of the first period for a 1-0 lead. It was Ben Johnson scoring his 2nd of the season with Brady O’Brien picking up his 7th assist. Willmar connected again on the power play late in the second period when Michael Sweetland scored his 5th of the year with Owen Thomas and Louis Anders picking up the assists. The Warhawks opened up early in the third with two goals in the first 5 minutes for a 4-0 lead. Ryan Mohrman, and Louis Anders each scored their 3rd goals of the season with Jack Willis assisting on both and Owen Thomas picked up another assist on Anders goal. New Ulm scored a late one to ruin the shutout bid for Luke Weberg but he finished with 18 saves to improve his record to 3-2. “Some really good things to build off this weekend. We are looking to carry this momentum to our game against Alexandria,” said Willmar Head Coach Kirk Olimb.
Willmar (4-8-0-0 – 8 pts) will host Alexandria (5-4-1-0 – 11 pts) Saturday night for their lone game this weekend. Puck drop is at 7:10. Get your tickets at tickets.willmarwarhawks.com for Sunday’s game at the Willmar Civic Center Arena. Catch any game on hockeytv.com
