ABOVE: Fairmont's Gavin Kester drives behind the net in a hat-trick performance against Windom in a Big South Conference boys hockey game Thursday night in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT – Even though the Fairmont Cardinals boys hockey team outshot the Windom Eagles 37-23 on Thursday night, the Eagles tied it up late to force overtime before scoring in the opening seconds of the extra frame for a 5-4 win in a Big South Conference boys hockey game.

While Fairmont was unable to grab their first win of the year and fell to 0-7 in the loss, Cardinals head coach Dylan VanBrocklin stated that he saw things during the game that he had not seen out of the team this season that showed improvement.

“Some things that we haven’t done at all this year,” said VanBrocklin. “When we’d get into the zone and instead of just getting one shot or turning it over, we’d get a shot and we’d battle for the rebound, we’d get the rebound, and then we’d set it up and get another chance.

“We had a few times where instead of just getting one shot and heading the other way,

we’d keep possession and get multiple chances. So that was awesome to see. Our goal was to break the puck out with possession, go through the neutral zone with possession, and enter into the offensive zone with possession.”

Windom moves to 3-8-1 with the win.

Gavin Kester led the Cardinals with a hat trick.

The Cardinals fell behind early in the opening frame, giving up a goal with 14:15 left in the first courtesy of a shot by Jonah Lohse. Two minutes later Fairmont gained their first power play of the night after Bodi Parker was sent to the box for two minutes. The Cardinals wasted no time in capitalizing on the advantage when Noah Meixell connected with Gavin Kester, who drove to the net and tucked the puck past the Eagles’ goaltender to tie things up 1-1. Fairmont took the lead 30 seconds later when Klay Beemer found a gap in the Windom defense and buried the puck in the back of the net, closing out the first up 2-1.

The second period got off to a slow start with the teams locked in a defensive stalemate. With 7:43 left on the clock, Windom gained a man advantage after Beemer was called for a cross-check. The Eagles continued to pressure, but Kester took advantage of the aggressive forecheck by breaking out of the zone and receiving a pass from Dayton Draper. Kester then lit the lamp for the second time of the night to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 3-1 off of the short-handed goal. Windom, still on the power play, responded with a goal of their own, bringing the score to 3-2. There was 5:32 remaining on the second-period clock when Kester scored his third goal of the night to complete the hat trick and put Fairmont up 4-2. A minute later Windom scored again, ending the period down 4-3.

Despite two attempts on the power play in the third period, the Cardinals were unable to extend the lead after Windom tied the game at 4-4. That brought about an overtime period that lasted a total of 15 seconds as the Eagles crashed the net to secure the victory.

The Cardinals head to Redwood Valley for a 7 p.m. game on Friday where they look to build on the success they found against the Eagles.