Determination finally paid off for the Albert Lea Thunder Saturday night in Alexandria as the team grabbed its second win of the season with a 5-1 victory over Alexandria.

It was Albert Lea’s first win since a 3-1 victory over Bismarck Oct. 25 at the City Arena.

“It’s been a long time coming for another win,” Thunder head coach Brad Zangs said.

No doubt. Another victory had been in the works for Albert Lea for some time as it has come increasingly closer to a victory in its last six games. Three of those games were decided by one goal and two of the losses came in overtime — a 3-2 shootout loss to Alexandria Nov. 22 and a 2-1 overtime loss to Owatonna last Sunday. Albert Lea lost 2-1 to Alexandria Friday night as well.

“I told the boys when you get teams on the ropes you have to learn to finish and bury them,” Zangs said. “These are games you can win. I told them you’re a good, solid team.”

With a little positive thinking the Thunder were able jump on the Blizzard early on Saturday night. Chris Cass scored his second goal of the season 10 minutes, 8 seconds into the first period and Albert Lea didn’t let up — the Thunder only got stronger.

In the second period Mitch Torrel scored two goals to give Albert Lea a 3-0 advantage. Torrel combined with Mark Ellis and Danny Wood just 1:08 into the second and later Wood and Nikita Feoktistov assisted on his second goal of the game.

The return of Ellis to the lineup was a obvious boost for the Thunder as Ellis recorded two points in the game.

“We’ve missed Mark big time,” Zangs said. “He gives us that physical presence. It was nice to see him come back and play strong and hard.”

Zangs said he introduced a chant he used with Iowa State before the game to motivate the team. The chant, “We want to win, we’re going to win” worked this time out for Albert Lea.

Of course having top-notch goaltending is always going to help as well. Thunder goalie Tom Lescovich turned in another sterling effort as he stopped 46 shots in net.

The lone goal Albert Lea surrendered came in the third period when Jerry Friesmuth scored a power play goal at 8:45 to make the game 4-1.

The goal came after Tom Glomski scored his second goal of the season, coming on a power play at 2:34. The goal was the first power play goal in 38 chances for the Thunder and it was a good reward for Glomski whose play has improved in the last six games.

“He’s really turned the corner,” Zangs said.

It was the fourth point Albert Lea has picked up in its last six games.

“We took care of business,” Zangs said. “There’s no reason we can’t do it every night.”

Zangs said the team has been doing a better job defensively, blocking shots and cutting down shooting lanes for opponents recently.

But losing has taught some important lessons as well. After the Bismarck series last weekend the Thunder learned that it must be more physical to find success. The Bobcats were the aggressor that series and Albert Lea has tried to emulate that style lately.

“I think they learned from the Bismarck series that you’ve got to bang, but you have to play under control,” Zangs said. “They’re learning to move their feet while they’re hitting somebody. Hopefully they learned their lesson against that Bismarck team.”

The Thunder have an opportunity to display what it has learned from the Bobcats Sunday at the City Arena when the two teams meet for the third time in two weeks.

Albert Lea 5, Alexandria 1

1st 2nd 3rd

Albert Lea 1 2 2 — 5

Alexandria 0 0 1 — 1

GOAL SCORING:

1st period: Albert Lea — Chris Cass (Robbie Vannelli, Mark Ellis) 10:08

2nd period: Albert Lea — Mitch Torrel (Mark Ellis, Danny Wood) 1:06

Albert Lea — Mitch Torrel (Nikita Feoktistov, Danny Wood) 12:13

3rd period:Albert Lea — Tom Glomski (power play) (Niko Kapetanovic, B.J. McClellan) 2:34

Alexandria — Jerry Freismuth (power play) (Jon Swavely, Derek Kaiser) 8:45

Albert Lea — Mitch Torrel (empty net) (Mikita Feaktsistau, Danny Wood) 15:56

SHOTS ON GOAL: 1st 2nd 3rd Total

Albert Lea 6 6 9 21

Alexandria 15 13 19 47

POWER PLAY CONVERSION: Albert Lea 1-for-5, Alexandria 1-for-7

Friday’s game:

Alexandria 2, Albert Lea 1

1st 2nd 3rd

Albert Lea 0 1 0 — 1

Alexandria 0 1 1 — 2

GOAL SCORING:

1st period: (no scoring)

2nd period: Alexandria — Brandon Bahnemann (Kyle Clement, Trent Johnson) 6:36

3rd period: Alexandria — Brandon Bahnemann (Kyle Clement, Trent Johnson) 5:01

Albert Lea — Niko Kapetanovic (Anthony Brown, BJ McClellan) 15:51

SHOTS ON GOAL: 1st 2nd 3rd Total

Albert Lea 13 9 7 — 29

Alexandria 13 10 5 — 28

POWER PLAY CONVERSION: Albert Lea 0-for-5, Alexandria 0-for-7