It took Class 1A's top seed 30 minutes to find a rhythm, but the wait proved to be worth it. Warroad's four goals during a two-minute stretch late in the second period sparked a 9-0 rout over New Ulm on Wednesday night in the third quarterfinal of the girls' hockey state tournament at Xcel Energy Center.
"We've had some slow starts in the past," said Lisa Marvin, who had four goals for Warroad, "but once we do get going, we play a good game and it's hard to beat us after that."
Throughout the first period Warroad overwhelmed New Ulm's defense, but only took a 2-0 lead. The tempo drastically changed after the first intermission.
New Ulm returned to the ice with more confidence and more direction. The Eagles executed plays and found ways to break up the Warriors' efforts. These adjustments meant a defensive-focused second period until the Warriors finally started scoring in bunches.
"I don't think it was urgency, we knew we remained in control the whole game," Sierra Hanowski said. "... We knew, if we did what we could do, we wouldn't have any problems. We knew our first period wasn't our best, and we had to come out harder."
Hanowski's awareness to split a pair of New Ulm defenders on a breakaway led to the first goal during their four-goal outburst. Hanow-ski pulled all attention in her direction before dishing off to Kayla Gardner for the easy goal. Thirty two seconds later, Marvin scored her second goal to make it 4-0 after intercepting a pass near New Ulm's net. Gardner's sister, Demi, and Kimberly Schaible got the next two goals.
JASON GONZALEZ
