File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Kyle Tauer races toward a loose puck during a recent game a the New Ulm Civic Center.

By Jeremy Reinarts Journal Sports Writer NEW ULM– New Ulm netminder Jack Raymond delivered a shutout to boost the Eagles to a 1-0 victory over Willmar in a 3A boys’ hockey game on Saturday. Due to weather New Ulm (9-8) had not seen competition in 14 days coming into the game Saturday. “It was nice to get back out on the ice and play a game tonight, it has been awhile since we last played,” Raymond said. “I knew it was going to be a little rough but the boys got it done tonight.” Glavine Schugel said it was a big game for the Eagles in Section 3A playoff preparation. “We need to control the puck better and get out of our d-zone, we have to pick it up here and make a run for the playoffs,” Schugel said. The Eagles are 6-3 in the Big South Conference with seven conference games left to play. Schugel scored the game-winning goal with 4:48 left to play in the third period to lift the Eagles up for the win. “I got a good pass from [Hunter] Hulke for the cycle down low, I went around a guy and had an open shot from my backhand,” Schugel said. Hulke hit Schugel with a pass in the corner as Schugel deked out a closing Willmar (1-18-1) defender that found himself on the stick side of the Cardinal goalie. Schugel’s backhanded shot beat the goalie above the glove side in the upper part of the net. Luke Scheid was the second assist on the Schugel goal. “We got that last goal with the last five minutes and started to step it up in the third period. The penalty minutes killed us and we need to stay out of the box,” Raymond said. Raymond was a key piece to the Eagles, who committed nine penalties against Willmar’s one. “We had a lot of penalty minutes which never helps and for that reason we didn’t have many shots making it hard on our selves,” Schugel said. New Ulm’s Josh Seidl was penalized for hooking in the first period. Raymond made two saves during the player disadvantage before the Eagle penalty kill would produce a scoring chance. Excellent puck control by New Ulm in its offensive zone created a 3-3 quality scoring chance as the Eagles went back to full strength. New Ulm’s penalty kill stayed aggressive again creating a scoring chance in the third period when Sam Berg’s centering pass in front of the Willmar net sailed just out of reach for a charging scoring chance. The Eagles held the 1-0 lead with 2:14 left to play on the clock when Max Heiderscheidt was called for a hooking penalty in front of Raymond. Raymond was challenged during the final minutes with shots coming point blank. “I am used to a lot of one-timers, we work in practice on those drills, it wasn’t a big deal I knew he was going to take the shot,” Raymond said. “When he would up I knew it was going right in my stomach for the bread basket save.” Raymond’s shutout came from16 saves and the Eagles put 13 shots on goal. The Eagles will travel to Windom for a Big South Conference game on Monday.