WINONA – The Albert Lea Tigers came out flying.

Monday, January 14, 2002

WINONA – The Albert Lea Tigers came out flying.

When they landed, they looked around and found themselves where no one expected them to be: on top of the Big Nine Conference boys’ hockey standings.

The surprising Tigers continued their season of success Thursday, cruising to a 7-1 victory at Winona. It improved Albert Lea to 7-4 overall and 5-1 in the Big Nine, tied with Rochester Mayo with only one conference loss.

&uot;This is a real treat for the Albert Lea fans, because they come out to watch and these kids come out to play hockey,&uot; said Tigers coach Roy Nystrom. &uot;They just work and work and work. As a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of them. In all the years I’ve coached, I can’t think of another team that has worked as hard as this team. They lay it on the line.

&uot;Win, lose or draw, there are no regrets after the game because we leave it all on the ice.&uot;

The Tigers left goalie Matt Tubbs with a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period at Winona, and that was more than enough. Albert Lea went on to outshoot the Winhawks 33-12 and the Winhawks didn’t score until 12:12 of the third period when the Tigers were up 7-0.

Tony Dugstad, Matt Bracker and Wade Westland scored in the first period, with assists going to Travis Miller, Casey Schumacher, Westland, Peter Hillman, Matt Dugstad and Bracker. Dan Breuer, Adam Boelter Schumacher scored in the second on assists by Josh Tubbs, Miller and Tyler Hegwood; all three were on power plays. The final goal was by Egan Mattson, assisted by Boelter and Breuer.

The Tigers have a big week upcoming. They play at Owatonna Tuesday, host Rochester Lourdes Thursday and have a Saturday night game at Rochester Century.