Jacob Heinlen recorded a hat trick and five assists during the Brainerd Warriors' 11-5 win over the Maple Grove Crimson Wednesday at Riverside Elementary.
Matt Allord also registered a hat trick and Jake Heikkenen and Cody Vleck each scored two goals for the Warriors who lead the North Conference with an 8-0 record and blanked Maple Grove 5-0 Jan. 30.
"Tonight we moved our regular goalie, Cody Vleck, out of the net and let Karlee Schuler get some game experience," said Warriors head coach Todd Person. "We also started several players that have not started games in the past to give them some work up front. Karlee improved as the game progressed."
Maple Grove took a 2-0 lead in the first and the teams were tied 3-3 after two. The Crimson then went up 5-3 in third before the Warriors scored eight unanswered goals to end the game.
"Midway through the third period, we brought our first line in the game," Person said. "We were without our regular starting defenseman, senior Zachary Denny, as he is on a family trip so the players had a chance to see what next season may look like without Zach back there. Blaise Edinger filled that role nicely as Jacob Heinlen, Matt Allord and Jake Heikkenen took the game over on the front line.
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"Cody Vleck has played as a starting forward for the past four seasons until he moved to goalie this year. Cody looked a little rusty out on the floor after 10 games back in net, but once he adjusted, he looked great and put in a couple of nice goals along with two assists.
"Jacob Heinlen slowed down and was taking his time more tonight. Once he had control of the puck, he started to throw goals in from several spots around the floor. Along with Jacob's three goals, Matt Allord put three in of his own giving us the lead for the first time with just over eight minutes left in the game."
Brainerd finished with a 60-15 edge in shots.
"Maple Grove plays a stand up goalie, which is a bit unusual as most teams have a wheelchair goaltender, but he did an excellent job stopping 34 shots in the third period against our starting line," Person said.
Brainerd now has 11 days off to prepare for its final game of the regular season Feb. 27 against Anoka.
Maple Grove 2 1 2- 5
Brainerd 1 2 8-11
First period: MG-Joe Witters :25, MG-Joe Witters (Navarro Tollefson, Johnny Perez) 4:57, B-Brach Delcastillo (Cody Vleck) 8:25
Second period: MG-Perez (Tollefson) 2:25, B-Vleck (Jacob Heinlen) 9:36, B-Heinlen (Tre'Von Otey, Tate Boelter) 12:27
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Third period: MG-Witters 1:34, MG-Witters (Lexi Willey) 2:36, B-Matt Allord (Blaise Edinger, Heinlen) 5:00, B-Heinlen (Allord, Jake Heikkenen) 6:27, B-Allord 6:43, B-Allord (Heinlen, Heikkenen) 7:12, B-Heikkenen (Heinlen) 7:42, B-Heikkenen (Heinlen) 8:19, B-Vleck (Heikkenen, Edinger) 11:16, B-Heinlen (Vleck) 14:59
Shots on goal: Brd 60, MG 15
Goalies: Brd-Karlee Schuler (10 saves); MG-Kirby Gilbertson (49 saves)
Conference: Brd 8-0. Overall: Brd 11-0. Next: Brainerd hosts Anoka-Hennepin Feb. 27.
