Jake Heikkenen and his Brainerd Warrior teammates continued on their season-long roll Monday at Riverside Elementary.
The junior forward snapped in four goals and notched an assist as the unbeaten Warriors defeated Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound Westonka 8-2 in a North Conference game. He scored a natural hat trick to open the game and added the contest’s final goal in the third period.
“Me and my right wing, Matt Allord, were doing pretty good with passes up the floor,” Heikkenen said, “and I think the movement was really good.”
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Warriors 8, RHMW 2
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- The key: Brainerd scored the game’s first seven goals
- Conference: Brd 7-0, RHMW 2-4
- Overall: Brd 10-0, RHMW 2-4
- Next: Maple Grove vs. Brainerd at Riverside Elementary 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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Brainerd, which outshot RHMW 33-19, slapped in the game’s first seven goals and began resting its starters. RHMW responded with two-straight scores before Heikkenen bookended the game with his fourth goal. Warrior goalie Cody Vleck stopped 17 of the 19 shots RHMW flicked at him.
“That’s kind of the way a lot of games have gone for us this year with the exception of two games against Anoka,” Warriors coach Todd Person said. “We’ve been able to jump up pretty quick on teams and start to get some of our younger kids playing experience. It shows their inexperience when they were out of position a few times. Cody will see more shots when that happens, when we don’t have our starting group in there.
“It’s good to get those kids some experience in these games. It will help us in the long run.”
Brainerd, the state’s only unbeaten team (10-0), also received goals from Allord, Blaise Edinger, Jacob Heinlen and Brach Delcastillo. Edinger and Heinlen each collected three assists, Zachary Denny and Tre’ Von Otey added two apiece.
Heikkenen cited team cohesiveness as one reason Brainerd is rolling.
“I think we have really good team chemistry,” he said. “We’ve all come a long way in terms of improvement. Our passing and chemistry are really good this year.”
Person credits a position change made before the season for leading to an unbeaten mark with three regular-season games remaining.
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“I think what’s really been going well is our defense with Cody Vleck back in goal and Zach Denny coming out of the goal position and moving up to that walker (defense) position,” Person said. “Zach’s done a really nice job up there, keeping the shots down, and Cody’s just phenomenal with the quickness and speed he’s got.
“Then just the way our other kids, like how Jacob Heinlen our starting center controls things on the blue line. Jake Heikkenen runs the offense from there. They’re doing what they need to do at this point.”
RHMW 0 0 2 -- 2 Brainerd 4 2 2 -- 8First period: B-Jake Heikkenen (Blaise Edinger, Jacob Heinlen) 6:15; B-Heikkenen (Zachary Denny, Tre’ Von Otey) 6:33; B-Heikkenen (Denny, Von Otey) 7:35; B-Matt Allord (Heinlen, Edinger) 11:53Second period: B-Heinlen (Edinger) 2:12; B-Edinger (Heikkenen, Heinlen) 4:51Third period: B-Brach Delcastillo 0:38; RHMW-Andy Hanson (Vincent Luu, Izear Joiner) 4:15; RHMW-Hanson (Sam Roles, Elaine Charlton); B-Heikkenen (Allord, Karlee Schuler) 13:40Shots on goal: Brd 16-9-8--33, RHMW 1-6-12--19 Goalies: Brd-Cody Vleck (17 saves); RHMW-Hayley Engebretsen (25 saves).
