The Albert Lea A Squirts played in the Onalaska, Wis., tournament recently to end their year. Albert Lea started the tournament with a loss to a physical Winona team, 4-2. Corde Purdie and Alex Claasen scored. Claasen also recorded an assist.

The boys weren&8217;t happy with their performance in the first game and Albert Lea came back to beat Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 5-0 after falling to the same team 4-1 earlier this season.

Van Zelanak scored two goals while Claasen and Brody Schreiber added goals. Matt Carlson had two assists and Purdie and Zelanak assisted. Garrett Matz was in net for the shutout.

Albert Lea avenged a 1-1 tie with Mankato earlier this season to the tune of a 4-1 win. Zelenak, Purdie and Claassen scored. Brady Loch, Carlson, and Wyatt Paulson assisted. The win put Albert Lea in the consolation championship against Rochester.

Keys to the tournament included aggressive play by forwards in back-checking, passing and making plays and having defensemen attack and moving the puck out of their zone.

The boys ended their Squirts career with a 2-0 win. Tanner Bellrichard and Purdie scored, and Purdie earned an assist. Matz was again in goal for another shutout and earned a tournament patch for his work.

Playing some of their best hockey of the season were Lucas Hacker, Jack Pulley, William Martin, Dalton Flatness and Ryan Petersen.

The A Squirts are coached by Chad Hacker, Ross Petersen and Ed Bellrichard.

They finished 14-10-5 this season. In three tournaments, they took the consolation championship twice (Albert Lea and Onalaska) and second place once, in Rochester.