Alexandria boys' hockey: Cardinals skate past Tech 5-4

• Marciniak

Sophomore forward Ryan Marciniak waited for a faceoff in a game earlier this season. Marciniak scored what turned out to be the game winner in a 5-4 contest against St. Cloud Tech last Thursday. (Eric Morken, Echo Press)

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The Alexandria boys’ hockey team took another step toward putting itself in the running for a Central Lakes Conference title with a 5-4 win over St. Cloud Tech last Thursday night.

The Tigers came into the game as the only unbeaten team in the conference but trailed almost the whole way against the Cardinals. Alexandria jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first period despite taking five penalties. Tech battled back to within one with two goals in the final frame but couldn’t get any closer in the closing minutes.

“It was a nice win for the conference standings as well as confidence leading into the second half of the season,” head coach Scott Woods said. “Both teams had numerous opportunities to change the outcome of the game, but ultimately the Cardinals prevailed.”

Levi McFarlane, Jack Wensman and Brady Bast all made up for that time in the penalty box by lighting the lamp in the first period. Christian Canavati then made it a 4-2 game after two periods. The Tigers were able to battle back in the final frame, but a power-play goal by Ryan Marciniak off assists from Patrick Leary and Aaron Steidl proved to be the difference in the game.

Ben Allen earned the win in net with 23 saves. Tech outshot Alexandria 27-21 overall.

“Ben was solid in net as usual,” Woods said. “Aaron Steidl, Andrew Rentschler, Kevin Finley, Logan Hochsprung, Christian Canavati and Parker Revering continued to play well defensively.”

The win moved the Cardinals to 8-5-1 overall and to 6-1-1 in the CLC. That’s the most wins of any team in the league. Tech and St. Cloud Apollo both sat at 5-1-0 in league play after the weekend.

The Cardinals have two more CLC games on the schedule this week. They were set to welcome in Brainerd-Pillager-Pierz last night, Tuesday, before going to Sartell-St. Stephen on Thursday.

GAME SUMMARY

ST. CLOUD TECH 1 1 2 – 4

ALEXANDRIA 3 1 1 – 5

SHOTS – St. Cloud Tech – 8, 8, 11 – 27; Alexandria – 6, 9, 6 – 21

Scoring

FIRST PERIOD – Alexandria – McFarlane (Canavati), 1:05; Alexandria – Wensman (Tom Schmidt, Revering), 5:07; Tech – Jake Peterson (Braden Altena), 11:55; Alexandria – Brady Bast (unassisted), 14:50

SECOND PERIOD – St. Cloud Tech – Justin Oberg (Matt Brettingen, Tanner Skaja), 11:55; Alexandria – Canavati (PPG) (Schmidt), 16:21

THIRD PERIOD – St. Cloud Tech – Jake Samuelson (Matt Brettingen), 11:56; Alexandria – Marciniak (PPG) (Leary, Steidl), 14:01; St. Cloud Tech – Tanner Skaja (Joe Setrum), 15:49

GOALTENDING – St. Cloud Tech – Austin Althaus – 16 saves, 21 shots; Alexandria – Allen – W, 23 saves, 27 shots

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