Over the winter break, the MWHS boy’s hockey team traveled to Little Falls for their annual holiday tournament. The White Hawks came home with two wins and a loss with games against Willmar, Hutchinson and the host team.

The boys drew Willmar in the opening game Tues. Dec. 27 with an afternoon matinee at Exchange arena. The 1^st period was scoreless with the Cardinals taking two minor penalties for hooking and interference. The White Hawks’s Alex Bakke(Curti,Blake Brandstetter) opened the scoring in the 2^nd on the power play with a rebound off a Charlie Curti shot from the point. Mound Westonka senior Riley Williams added two more goals in the period with Hunter Smith assisting on both and Jack Brandstetter assisting on the first for a 3-0 MW lead headed into the 3^rd.

MW’s Alex Bakke(Tanner Palm,Griffith) added his second goal of the game at 3.21 after digging out a loose puck from the Willmar goal crease. Late in the game at 13.43 sophomore Jack Sterne(Sjoquist,Oborsky) netted his first varsity goal when Adam Sjoquist sprung him in all alone on the Willmar goal-tender. White Hawk senior goalie David Engel earned the 5-0 shutout behind the stalwart MW defensive efforts of White Hawk blue liners, Nick Tschida, Blake Brandstetter, Will Griffith, Charlie Curti, Peter Schulenberg and Connor Hanson.

Wednesday, December 28^th the White Hawks faced off  with Wright County Conference foe Hutchinson. MW’s Charlie Curti (Jack Brandstetter,Williams) netted the opening goal at 10.22 of the 1^st  on a nice back door feed from Brandstetter skating in from the weak side point. At the end of one, the boys held a 1-0 edge.

Ben Oborsky(Bingham) scored on a backhand of his own rebound at 5.48 of the 2^nd and Adam Sjoquist (Tschida) extended the lead at 7.27 on a rebound of a Tschida shot from the point. The Tigers found the back of the net at 11.59 after the White Hawks could not clear the defensive zone after 30 seconds of pressure. Hutchinson would pull to within one after an MW power play expired when The Tigers scooped up a loose puck behind the White Hawk power play unit walking in all alone on MW goalie Andy Seats late in the period. At the end of the 2^nd,the White Hawks held a 3-2 lead with Hutch managing only 4 shots on goal in the middle frame.

The 3^rd period was tight until late in the game with 3 minutes remaining, Will Griffith (Brady,Bingham) skipped one in from the point off a Tiger defender. The White Hawks out-shot the Tigers 44-13 for a hard earned 4-2 victory.

The final game of the week was an intense hard hitting matchup with the host Little Falls Flyers on Thursday, Dec. 29. The White Hawk’s Jack Brandstetter (Smith, Griffith) scored on a 5 on 3 MW advantage to give the White Hawks the game’s first goal. The Flyers tied the game at one with just .27 seconds left in the period after an MW defensive zone turn over.

Little Falls took the lead at 7.50 of the 2^nd after another White Hawk defensive zone turnover.  Jack Brandstetter(Smith) tied the game at two late in the period at 14.40 off a faceoff when Smith found the junior with a feed from the side of the Flyer net.

The Flyers changed the games momentum early in the 3^rd two seconds after the White Hawks killed off a minor penalty taking the lead at 3.20. Twenty one seconds later Little Falls added a second goal of the period and our boys were reeling. At 6.56 the host team scored again for a three goal lead. MW could only muster one shot in the first 12 minutes of the period falling to the Flyers 5-2 in the championship game.

The White Hawks record stands at 9-3 with games at St. Cloud Cathedral Tues. Jan. 10, at home Hopkins Thurs. Jan. 12 and on the road Delano Sat. Jan. 14.