SLEEPY EYE — Alexandria scored four goals in the second period and defeated New Ulm 5-2 in NA3HL junior hockey playoff action at Sleepy Eye on Friday night.

The Blizzard lead the best-of-3 series 1-0 and have a chance to close out the series on Saturday in Alexandria.

Brenden Payne scored Alexandria’s first goal in the first period at 19:35.

New Ulm’s Ryan Smith scored the equalizer at the 1:05 mark in the second period, but Alexandria got back-to-back goals from Logan Nelson (9:11) and Brett Meister (11:41) to go up 3-1.

Trevor Woytcke scored New Ulm’s second goal on an assist from Nickolas Wieben, but Alexandria closed the game with two more goals.

Ryan Kenny made 21 saves for New Ulm and Alexandria outshot New Ulm 26-24.