“It felt good,” Weston said. “Just to start the game off that way, it was good. We were rolling after a little bit, but it was fun.”

While New Ulm had to wait until the second period for more scoring, that goal ended up being a good indication of things to come, as the Eagles went on to win 8-0 to advance to play top-seeded Marshall on Saturday.

“It definitely gives us a lot of momentum,” New Ulm’s Madalynn Olson said. “Our coach always tells us to come out strong in the first period and keep that going, because that’s something we struggled with. We’ve had a pretty tough schedule this year, and just playing a complete three periods and really getting the momentum going right away and not getting ourselves down.”

Weston finished with two goals and three assists in the game, while Olson had a goal and an assist. Brecklyn Harazin had a goal and an assist, while Callie Haugen had two goals. Tristyn Wolner and Lily Kral each had a goal, and Jersey Haugen had an assist. Ava Schmid had 30 saves.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Lily Kral celebrates after a goal during a Section 3A girls hockey game against Worthington Thursday at the New Ulm Civic Center.

After the opening goal, New Ulm withstood two penalties without letting up a goal before the end of the period. New Ulm again scored quickly in the second period, with a rebound from Jersey Haugen being collected by Kral for a 2-0 lead just 26 seconds into the period. This time, New Ulm kept the pressure on, with Weston scoring her second goal on another rebound, assisted by Olson, at 6:16 of the second.

“We were all just in a really good mood I feel like this game,” Weston said. “None of us were in a bad mood. We just wanted to bring our all, honestly, not wanting our season to end, and we don’t want it to end on Saturday either.”

Callie Haugen scored New Ulm’s third goal of the second period on an assist from Harazin on the power play at 12:04 to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead. New Ulm continued the pattern of scoring early in each period as Olson broke away for a unassisted goal 44 seconds into the third, then Tristyn Wolner added an unassisted goal at 2:44 in the third. Callie Haugen scored her second on an assist from Weston at 4:47 of the third, and as the game was in running time, Harazin scored on an assist from Weston with four seconds to play to wrap up the game.

New Ulm has a tough challenge ahead of them against 22-4 Marshall, but New Ulm isn’t ready to let the season end so easily.

“Definitely coming out strong in the first,” Olson said. “Because then you’re not already set back and you can already get up. Marshall’s a fast team, we need to keep the urgency up against them and play good defense and set us up for offensive opportunities.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Brielynn Weston takes aim for her first goal during a Section 3A girls hockey game against Worthington Thursday at the New Ulm Civic Center.