Junior Hockey: WarHawks lose series to Bulls, 4-2

Tom Elliott, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·3 min read

Apr. 12—MASON CITY, Iowa. — The Willmar WarHawks saw their quest for their first NA3HL West Division playoff title in the franchise's history come to a close Sunday night.

The North Iowa Bulls beat Willmar 4-2 to win the best-of-3 series 2-1. The WarHawks had beaten the Bulls 2-1 Saturday night in St. Cloud to force a Game 3.

The WarHawks led 1-0 early but North Iowa scored the next four goals over three periods to take a 4-1 lead.

Isaiah Thomas, the 21-year-old forward from Bismarck, North Dakota, opened the scoring for Willmar with his fourth playoff goal at 3:53 of the first period. The WarHawks' Jonah Jangula and Dylan Gajewski assisted on the play.

North Iowa tied it up at 16:49 of the first period on Hutson Collins' first goal of the playoffs.

Brayden Uttech and Caden Smith scored goals in a short span in the middle of the second period. Uttech's goal came at 7:31 and was followed by Smith's goal at 9:10.

The Bulls made it 4-1 on Sota Isogai's goal at 12:14 of the third period. Isogai is a 20-year-old from Nagano, Japan.

Alex Kupka then scored his second goal of the playoffs at 16:56 to cut Willmar's deficit to 4-2. The 19-year-old forward's goal was assisted by Thomas and Ben Johnson.

That's as close as Willmar would get.

North Iowa advances to the next round of the NA3HL playoffs in pursuit of the Frasor Cup.

North Iowa 4,

Willmar 2

Willmar (3-3-0) 1 0 1 — 2

North Iowa (4-1-1) 1 2 1 — 4

FIRST PERIOD — (1) W: Isaiah Thomas 4 (Jonah Jangula, Dylan Gajewski) 3:53 ... (2) NI: Hutson Collins 1 (Shota Kaneko, Brayden Uttech) 16:49 ... PENALTIES: (1) W: Ethan Light (boarding-minor, 2 min) 9:03.

SECOND PERIOD — (3) NI: Uttech 1 (Shota Kaneko, Collins) 7:31 ... (4) NI: Caden Smith 2 (Nick Mohs-Messerli, Cal Nauss) 9:10 ... PENALTIES: (2): W: Nate Cox (high sticking-minor, 2 min) 5:14 ... (3) W: Gajewski (head contact-minor, 2 min) 19:54.

THIRD PERIOD — (5) NI: Sota Isogai (Garrett Freeman, Max Savaloja) 12:14 ... (6) Alex Kupka (Thomas, Ben Johnson) 16:56 ... PENALTIES: (4) W: Johnson (kneeing-minor, 2 min) 8:47 ... (5) NI: Gavin Wendorf (tripping-minor, 19:24).

GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS — Willmar: Lukas Haugen 23/27 ... North Iowa: Carsen Stokes 14/16.

Willmar 2,

North Iowa 1

Nate Cox scored the game-winner at 58 seconds of the third period to help Willmar beat North Iowa on Saturday in St. Cloud.

Gavin Uckele scored at 16:57 of the second period to tie the game up 1-1 for Willmar, which used the St. Cloud Municipal Ice Arena as its home ice because Willmar's was unavailable because of scheduling conflict.

North Iowa (3-1-1) 1 0 0 — 1

Willmar (3-2-0) 0 1 1 — 2

FIRST PERIOD — (1) NI: Cal Nauss (Carter Newpower, Lucas Jorgenson) 16:20 ... PENALTIES: (1) W: Ethan Light (interference-minor, 2 min) 15:55 ... (2) NI: Nauss (hooking-minor, 2 min) 18;31.

SECOND PERIOD — (2) W: Gavin Uckele (Hunter Bjorge, Alex Kupka) 16:57 ... PENALTIES: (3) W: Light (cross checking-minor, 2 min) 3:03 .. (4) NI: Caleb Huffman (interference-minor, 2 min) 8:43.

THIRD PERIOD — (3) W: Nate Cox (Jonah Jangula) :58 ... PENALTIES: (5) W: Kaleb Miller (interference-minor, 2 min) 2:47 ... (6) W: Ethan Mock (boarding-minor, 2 min) 6:09 ... (7) NI: Nauss (cross checking-minor, 2 min) 6:40 ... (8) NI: Carson Jones (high sticking-double minor, 4 min) 16:07 ... (9) W: Ben Johnson (roughing-minor-2 min) 16:07.

GOALIE SAVES/SHOTS — North Iowa: Carsen Stokes 36/38 ... Willmar: Lukas Haugen 26/27.