Ville Rantanen scored three first-period goals and added an assist as the Mankato West boys hockey team defeated Faribault 6-3 at Faribault Ice Arena on Thursday.

Rantanen, a foreign exchange student from Finland, is currently the state’s leading goal scorer with 19. He showed the Falcons early on why he carries that distinction with a natural hat trick in the first — two of which coming unassisted.

“He was a force in there,” FHS coach Brad Ryan said. “Even though it was 3-2 after the first, he was a huge reason why they were on the board.”

Unfortunately for the Falcons, when Rantanen was contained his teammate Landon Brown wasn’t.

Brown scored a pair of goals in the second period to put the Scarlets up 5-2 heading into the third, and despite matching goals in the final period the Falcons were unable to make the comeback.

Brandon Teske scored a pair of goals in the first period for Faribault to keep the game close heading into the second. Senior Sean Lipinski scored Faribault’s final goal in the third.

FHS GAME STATISTICS
MW    3    2    1    —    6
FHS    2    0    1    —    3
Scoring – First period: 6:39 FHS Brandon Teske (Jack Helgeson, Cody Colegrove), 9:21 MW Ville Rantanen (Andrew Frentz), 10:13 MW Rantanen (unassisted), 16:00 MW Rantanen (unassisted), 16:25 FHS Teske (Sean Lipinski). Second period: 5:04 MW Landon Brown (Nate Olsen), 8:35 MW Brown (Billy Bigham). Third period: 9:21 FHS Lipinski (Helgeson, Colegrove), 16:20 MW Olsen (Rantanen. Shots on goal — MW 34, FHS 16. Power plays — MW 3-11, FHS 1-4. Saves — MW Jake Kaufman 13, FHS Jarrad Bruessel 28.