The Brainerd Warriors suffered their first defeat of the season, 4-3 in overtime, at the hands of the Alexandria Cardinals in a tightly contested Central Lakes Conference game at Brainerd Area Civic Center Thursday.
Ryan Marciniak put the game-winner past Warriors goalie Kyle Helmberger at the 2:53 mark of the extra period to drop Brainerd’s conference and season record to 2-1.
Jacob Ellingson’s power-play goal in the first period evened the score at 1-1 before Alexandria responded with a pair of goals. Logan Rivard scored with 30 seconds left to pull Brainerd within 3-2 after one.
Isaac Johnson found the back of the net on a power play for the tying goal in the second with an assist from Thomas Stoxen.
Both teams put 37 shots on goal with Helmberger rejecting 33.
Alexandria 3 0 0 1 — 4
Brainerd 2 1 0 0 — 3
First period: Alex-Parker Revering (Chris Leary, Ryan Marciniak) 6:26; Brd-Jacob Ellingson (Logan Rivard, Jed Rusk) ppg 11:15; Alex-Tom Schmidt (Matt Resch) 13:08; Alex-Resch (Kevin Finley) 13:26; Brd-Rivard (Rusk) 16:30
Second period: Brd-Isaac Johnson (Thomas Stoxen) ppg 5:49
Overtime period: Alex-Ryan Marciniak 2:53
Shots on goal: Brd 12 16 6 3 — 37, Alex 12 12 12 1 — 37
Goalies: Brd-Kyle Helmberger (33 saves); Alex-Ben Allen (34 saves)
Conference: Brd 2-1. Overall: Brd 2-1. Next: Brainerd at St. Cloud Apollo 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
