Adapted Floor Hockey: Brainerd seniors have Warriors covered from A to Z

BRAINERD — A pair of underclassmen brothers made sure their senior teammates went out in style.

Owen and Aiden Olsen combined to score five goals and ignite a four-goal third period to lift the Brainerd Warriors to a 6-3 victory over the Robbinsdale-Hopkins-Westonka-St. Louis Park Robins Monday, Feb. 13, at Riverside Elementary on senior night.

Owen Olsen finished with three goals, including two quick third-period goals to break a 2-2 tie.

Olsen’s third goal represented the game-winner. It was assisted by seventh-grader Aiden Olsen at 3:24 in the third. Olsen’s second goal was assisted by Landon Brotherton and Aiden Olsen.

“It’s all about communicating and knowing where each other is,” senior captain Cadence Atwater said. “Just being able to talk is all that we need to get shots on net and score goals.”

Brotherton tallied his lone goal in the third on assists from the Olsen brothers.

Aiden Olsen, who scored the game’s first goal concluded Brainerd’s scoring with a goal at 9:57. It was assisted by Aiden Ulness and senior Hunter Zilka.

“I think we’re doing pretty good,” Atwater said. “We definitely have things to work on. Knowing we did good today, we can build off of this. It helps us to know what we did right so we can hopefully improve and do better on Wednesday.”

Monday was the final home game for the Warriors and they played in front of a packed house with the state-champion Warrior cheer team on the sidelines.

Things got quiet in the second period as Jose Leon Estrada, who pumped in all three goals for the Robins, scored two second-period goals to tie the game 2-2 going into the third.

Brainerd outshot the Robins in all three periods and concluded with a 41-16 shot advantage. The Warriors couldn’t find the back of the net in the second period, however, and Estrada tallied his goals at 12:40 and 14:48 to tie the game.

“Their third goal was kind of a deflection off our chair and Andrew (Kargel) didn’t really see that one,” Warrior head coach Todd Person said. “We were just trying to work on the no-time, no-space thing and I thought we came out in the first period better with that. Then in the second period, we got a little lax with that, but thankfully, picked up the intensity in the third period.”

Brainerd regrouped defensively in the third thanks to its two senior walker-defensemen.

“Today, got a little nervewracking,” Atwater said. “We had a few mistakes there in the second period, but we just had to regroup. We always know how to get back together and refocus. That just helps us get shots on nets and eventually goals.”

Kargel finished with 13 saves including two glove saves from powerful slap shots in the Warrior net.

Zilka finished with three assists and Atwater provided her usual senior experience and calmness to keep the Warriors unbeaten.

“Being a captain is great,” Atwater said. “I love being able to interact, especially, with our younger teammates and getting to show them what it means to communicate and work together.”

Said Person: “Hunter definitely gives us a lot of energy out on the floor. He takes a mighty swing at it whenever he does. I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that.

“Then Cadence just does a fantastic job of running the floor for us. She’s always got her head up. She knows where to go with the puck. She doesn’t make a lot of mistakes out there and she does a fantastic job of getting back and covering on defense when she needs to. I couldn’t ask for anything more from her.”

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 218-855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .

Key: Owen Olsen’s two third-period goals turned out to be the game-winners.

Overall: Brd 6-0.

Next: Brainerd at Anoka 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15.