On Friday, the Willmar WarHawks had a burst of offense in the middle frame finding the back of the net 3 times on their way to a 4 to 3 victory over the MN Loons. Brayden Buckingham scored his 5th of the season on the power play to open the scoring and the Loons later responded late in the first to tie up the game. The second period scoring burst only took 39 seconds with the Loons taking the lead early but the remainder of the period was all WarHawks with Luke McCarthy netting his second of the season and both Spencer Bergman and Kevin Odlaug getting their first of the year to make it 4-2 Willmar going into the 3rd. The Loons were able to draw within one with a power play goal at the 12:15 mark but the WarHawks were able to secure the lead for the 4-3 victory. Shots on goal were 35 to 37 in favor of the Warhawks.
The WarHawks only took 12 seconds to get on the scoreboard thanks to a Michael Sweetland goal, his 6th of the season. Gunnar Sibley added a goal halfway through the 1st to give Willmar a 2-0 advantage after the first and Chandler Dennis added his second of the year halfway through the 2nd to give the WarHawks a 3-0 lead after two. The New Ulm Steel tried to make the game interesting with a tally at the 4:19 mark and finally adding a second with just shy of 1:30 to play in the 3rd. The WarHawks were able to fend off the late charge by the Steel and pulled off the weekend sweep improving their record to 5-9-0-0.
The WarHawks continue their battle with New Ulm next weekend as they hit the road Friday in New Ulm then have a mid week game against the Blizzard on Wednesday, November 23 before returning for another home series vs Mason City.
