The Albert Lea boys’ hockey team capped of its last week before the Christmas break with two momentous overtime wins after a shaky start to the season.

On Tuesday night, the Tigers hosted the Cougars of Mankato East/Loyola. The Tigers took an early lead with a goal from sophomore Isaiah VanRyswyk. They got out to a 2-0 lead in the second period on a goal from Jacob Prihoda, but the Cougars came right back with a goal of their own, keeping the game within reach.

Sophomore Blake Ulve extended the lead back to two goals in the third period during a power play for Albert Lea. Down two goals with just over 10 minutes remaining, Mankato East stormed back with two goals within three minutes of each other. The game headed to overtime with the score tied 3-3.

Eight minutes into the extra period, senior Cole Wentzel scored for the Tigers, putting them on the winning side of an overtime game for the first time this season.

Albert Lea was again faced with an overtime battle on Thursday night when they hosted the Eagles of Rochester Lourdes, a rematch of the heartbreaker that landed Albert Lea out of the section playoffs last season. Thursday night’s game was the fourth time Albert Lea has been in an overtime game through the first eight games of the season.

Head coach Jason Fornwald talked about the high number of overtimes the Tigers have seen this year.

“(It’s) pretty unusual, but at the same time it has really provided us some great early situations to test our character and how we can respond to adversity,” he said.

Thursday night’s game was a defensive battle that saw both goalies give up no goals on over 30 shots-on-goal from each team throughout regulation.

Senior Jaxon Heilman put in almost three full periods of work, saving 38 shots before being replaced by senior Jacob Ball, who saved a total of 13 shots through the remainder of the period and overtime.

Just over six minutes into the extra period, junior Danny Chalmers found the back of the net off an assist from sophomore Caden Severtson.

The win gives the Tigers victories over two of the top teams in the section just before the Christmas break.

Fornwald talked about the wins and their impact on the rest of the season.

“These two wins were nice steps for our team to take at this point in the season,” he said. “It’s always nice to go into a break on a winning streak. It proves to ourselves that we can play with any team in our section. We’ve got a young team, and big wins like this really help with our young players mental development. We are all excited to get back on the ice for the Christmas tourney in Rochester and hopefully continue to build momentum into the next two-thirds of the season.”

The Tigers move to 4-4 on the season and will be back in action on Thursday at the Christmas Tournament at Graham Arena in Rochester.