Card hockey team blanks Sauk Rapids

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Bennett Black had a three-point night to help lead the Alexandria boys’ hockey team to a 5-0 win over Sauk Rapids on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first and added two more goals in the second to secure the team’s 18th victory of the season.

Black scored a goal and assisted on two to lead the way for the Cardinals. Ross Thompson added a goal and an assist, and Scott Hennen, Ashton Gronholz and Casey Vangsness each added goals to complete the one-sided victory for Alexandria.

Matt Hemingway put together his fifth straight period of shutout hockey.

He stopped all seven shots he faced through the first two periods before John Mohror replaced him in net in the third. Mohror picked up two saves in the final frame.

It is the second straight shutout for the Cardinals, who are playing inspired hockey after a 3-3 tie on February 5 against Sartell-St. Stephen. After that game, head coach Scott Woods felt the need to have a meeting with his team to try and get them playing their best hockey going into the final weeks of the regular season.

“We focused on things that had been sliding,” Woods said about the team meeting. “Sometimes you can win with a talented team and not be playing your best. Little things like taking long shifts, not working as hard as possible, playing for your team instead of yourself, taking bad penalties and mental toughness.

“We talked about how easy it can be to do many of those things when you are winning by several goals, but when games are close, character and work ethic come out.”

Since then, the Cardinals have refocused and put together two of their best games in more than a month.

“Coaches and players all got a chance to speak,” Woods said. “The players had a discussion without us, as well. We look like the team we were early in the year again. This is a great group of guys, but every team needs to refocus at some point.”

Alexandria moved to 18-3-1 with the win over the Storm. The Cardinals moved to 13-2-1 in the Central Lakes Conference. They sit alone in second place in the conference behind Little Falls. The Flyers remained undefeated at 21-0 after a 10-2 win over St. Cloud Tech on Tuesday night.

GAME STATISTICS

ALEXANDRIA 3 2 0 – 5

SAUK RAPIDS 0 0 0 – 0

ALEXANDRIA LEADERS – Bennett Black – 1 goal, 2 assists; Ross Thompson – 1 goal, 1 assist; Scott Hennen – 1 goal; Ashton Gronholz – 1 goal; Casey Vangsness – 1 goal; Tyler Iverson – 1 assist; Tyler Hocum – 1 assist; Tyler Resch – 1 assist; Thomas Williams – 1 assist

GOALTENDING – Matt Hemingway – 7 saves (34 minutes); John Mohror – 2 saves (17 minutes)

Tags: boys, hockey, alexandria, cardinals, sauk, rapids