On Saturday, Feb. 25, the New Ulm Eagles took to the ice against the Mankato East Cougars at Lund Arena on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus. The game opened up in a stalemate for the first 8 minutes. Then, the Eagles came alive, scoring three quick goals in the first period to give themselves a decent cushion to start the second.

However, the second period did not go in the Eagles’ favor. “We were unable to capitalize on their quick penalty in the second period, and that hurt us, but we held on,” said senior defenseman Landon Barstad. During the second period, the Cougars could tie up the game 3-3 before the Eagles scored once more right before the end of the period.

During the third period, the Eagles proved why they had the better record and were seeded higher. They faced two unfortunate penalties about halfway through the period as senior Landon Barstad and junior Talan Helget ended up in the penalty box about halfway through the period. This, however, was after the Eagles could top on one more goal. The Eagles could penalty-kill for the last couple of minutes of Helget’s penalty time and almost instantly score another goal. This brought the game to an end score of 6-3 in the Eagle’s favor.

“When it mattered, I think that we all stepped up, especially when Landon and Talan were both in the penalty box,” said senior Kaden Larson. The Eagles will take on Marshall in the section championship on Wednesday, Feb. 28 against the Marshall Tigers.