File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Jack Albrecht takes the puck up ice during a recent home game at the New Ulm Civic Center.

NEW ULM — Braxten Hoffmann recorded a hat trick as the New Ulm Eagles fired 51 shots on Redwood Valley goaltender Camden Click and advanced in Section 3A with an 8-1 pasting of the Cardinals Thursday night at the New Ulm Civic Center.

Jace Addy, Noah Wilmes, Keagan Schiro, Kadon Strong and Josh Gulden each scored a goal for the Eagles.

Blake Soukup had three assists with A.J. Arneson, Schiro and Jacob Berg each adding two helpers. Wilmes and Gulden each had an assist.

New Ulm goaltender Joey Gag stopped 23 of 24 Redwood Valley shots in the game.

New Ulm, now 16-3, travels to Litchfield for a 7 p.m. game on Saturday to take on the Dragons in a Section 3A semifinal game.

New Ulm lost to Litchfield 2-1 in the second game of the season.

Litchfield defeated Luverne 8-0 Thursday.

The Eagles jumped on the Cardinals for two fast goals. Wilmes got the rout going when he scored just 1:48 into the game before Hoffmann got the first of his three goals at the 4:43 mark.

Redwood Valley got its only goal of the game on a defensive hiccup when New Ulm turned the puck over in its own zone and Carter Iwan got the puck by Gag.

But New Ulm responded with three straight goals as Hoffmann earned his second score of the night at the 12:20 mark. Strong and Schiro scored goals less than two minutes apart as New Ulm took a 5-1 lead after the first 17 minutes.

The Eagles added three more goals in the second period on scores from Gulden and Addy before Hoffmann got his hat trick at the 14:34 mark of the second period.