WDC wins 2 of 3 games at Little Falls tourney, ends series with a close win over Northern Lakes

LITTLE FALLS — Cole Woods scored the game-winning goal for the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines 5-4 win over Northern Lakes Thursday, Dec. 30, in the Little Falls Holiday Tournament.

WDC went up 4-0 in the second period when Aron Sutherland scored his second goal at the 9:25 mark of the second period.

The Lightning roared back to tie it 4-4 when Cullen Kratochvil scored at the 8:06 mark of the third period.

Evan Lunde and Cole Berglund each scored first-period goals for the Wolverines. Logan Verville, Taylor Berg and Jamison St. Clair all scored for Northern Lakes.

Gunnar Olson tallied 18 saves for WDC while Ethan Kunz got 23 saves for Northern Lakes.

Wadena-DC 3 1 1 — 5

Northern Lakes 0 1 3 — 4

First period: WDC-Aron Sutherland (Connor Davis, Cole Woods) 5:20, WDC-Evan Lunde 9:30, WDC-Cole Berglund 10:22

Second period: WDC-Aron Sutherland 9:25, NL-Taylor Berg (Kolbe Serverson, Logan Verville) 13:06

Third period: NL-Logan Verville (Zach Ehnstrom, Christian Crutcher) 5:45, NL-Jamison St. Clair (Colton Craig) 6:10, NL-Cullen Kratochvil (Crutcher, Ehnstrom) 8:06, WDC-Cole Woods (Aron Sutherland) 11:48

Shots on goal: NL 6-9-7 22, WDC 11-8-9 28

Goalies: NL-Ethan Kunz (23 saves); WDC-Gunnar Olson (18 saves)

The Flyers got separation in the second period where they scored three goals.

Matt Filippi scored a power-play 1:31 into the second on assists from Hayden Johnson and George Moore. Filippi finished with five assists to go along with his goal.

Moore then added two goals himself to give the Flyers a 5-1 cushion in the second. The second of Moore’s goals came on the power play.

MJ Lunde closed out the second for WDC with a goal to make it 5-2 into the second intermission.

Collin Kray started the scoring with a power-play goal at the 6:20 mark of the first period. Carter Oothoudt and Johnson tallied assists on the opening goal.

WDC was quick to respond as Cole Woods found the back of the net 10 seconds later to tie it 1-1. Aron Sutherland and Connor Davis received assists.

“Our team just doesn’t give up,” Scott Woods said. “They respond well. We try to ingrain in them that if we get scored on you don’t slap your stick and get upset. And they really did. They don’t need to hang their heads after losing to a good team.”

The Flyers earned a 19-7 shot advantage after the first period and went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead after Johnson scored with a minute left in the period. Oothoudt picked up his second assist of the period with Matt Filippi also tallying an assist on Johnson’s goal.

Oothoudt added a goal in the third period to go along with his three assists. Johnson also picked up his second goal in third to go along with three assists.

Hudson Filippi tacked on the third goal of the third period for the Flyers with Moore picking up his second assist.

WDC defeated Windom Area 4-1 in the first game of the Little Falls Holiday Classic on Tuesday, Dec. 28.

Connor Davis recorded a hat trick and Cole Berglund earned the first goal of the night.

Davis recorded his first goal of the night at 5:34, assisted by Cole Woods.

"We played well right away," said head coach Scott Woods. "They had to take a timeout in the first period when we went up 2-0"

Davis scored goal number two only 27 seconds into the period. Dalton Moyer was credited with the assist, his eighth of the season.

The Wolverines increased the advantage to 4-0 when Davis completed the hat trick while on the power play at 5:41 in the third period, assisted by Austyn Oothoudt. The Eagles scored with just over four minutes left in the game.

Goalie Gunner Olson made 29 saves. The Wolverines outshout Windom Area 35-30.

"The guys played well as a team again," Woods said.