Beau Odash scored Brainerd’s two goals in the Warriors’ 13-2 Central Lakes Conference loss to the St. Cloud Tigers Monday, April 19, at Adamson Field.
Brainerd started the game down quickly as Tigers’ Joe Torborg scored the first of his three goals in the first minute of the first quarter.
Connor Harens followed up Torborg’s goal a minute later and the score was 2-0 with less than two minutes in.
The Tigers were up 3-0 when Odash scored his first goal with 1:33 remaining in the first quarter. It was Odash’s first game as he missed the opener Saturday against Moorhead.
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“We missed Beau all last week in practice,” Warriors head coach Adam Extrand said. “He’s obviously a scorer and with him and Sam (Madison) and get (Jacob) Holms working together more and practicing together, I think they can be effective.”
St. Cloud led 4-1 after quarter one after Kyle Longstrom scored a goal as time expired.
Torborg and Harens each added their second goals in the second quarter as the Tigers led 6-1 at half.
In the third quarter, Odash cut into the St. Cloud lead with a goal nearly halfway through the quarter.
“I really liked our third quarter,” Extrand said. “We had more scoring opportunities tonight then I think I’ve seen in my two years here. We were just missing the net, but had some really nice passing plays for guys who were in tight. We just didn’t finish. We could have easily scored four or five more goals.”
However, the Tigers responded with two goals of their own by Torborg and Ryan Glaesman.
Harens scored his third goal to start the fourth quarter to make the Tigers’ lead 9-2.
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Glaesman scored his third and fourth goals in the fourth and Alex Jacobson netted two to close out the Warriors.
Brainerd’s goaltender Tanner Karsnia saw a lot of shots, but held his own in net.
“Tanner made some great saves,” Extrand said. “After the first half, we tried to get Tanner more involved with our clears and with trying to break out. Once we got Tanner more involved we started to be more effective and I think that’s why we had such a great third quarter.”
Extrand said his team had too many penalties, which hurt because many of St. Cloud’s goals came on the man advantage.
“We have to eliminate penalties,” he said. “That’s typically not the way we play and that cost us.”
Extrand added he thinks this game was a breakthrough for his squad despite the score.
“I think it comes from having some older guys down there on attack,” he said. “It’s really helping us.”
Brainerd will look for its first win Thursday at Rocori.
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“We are making progress and closing that gap on the score,” Extrand said. “I think as we continue through the season we are just going to get better and better and I think we are going to get some wins.”
St. Cloud 4 2 2 5 — 13
Brainerd 1 0 1 0 — 2
First quarter: SC-Joe Torborg 11:12, SC-Connor Harens 10:10, SC-Ryan Glaesman 4:20, Brd-Beau Odash 1:33, SC-Kyle Longstrom 0:00
Second quarter: SC-Joe Torborg 7:46, SC-Connor Harens 1:43
Third quarter: Brd-Beau Odash 6:18, SC-Joe Torborg 4:15, SC-Ryan Glaesman 2:09
Fourth quarter: SC-Connor Harens 10:59, SC-Alex Jacobson 10:41, SC-Ryan Glaesman 5:46, SC-Ryan Glaesman 5:15, SC-Alex Jacobson 2:29
St. Cloud 13, Brainerd 2
Key: Three different St. Cloud players score three goals or more in win.
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Conference: Brd 0-1.
Overall: Brd 0-2.
Next: Brainerd at Rocori 5 p.m. Thursday, April 22.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
