The Albert Lea Blades picked up a key Southern Minnesota Hockey League victory with an 8-4 triumph over Austin at the City Arena Saturday.

The Blades, who lost to Austin in a summer tournament, improved to 2-0 in the league and 5-0 overall. It was Austin’s league opener.

&uot;It was a real good game,&uot; said Blades general manager Jason Fornwald. &uot;Both teams had a big group &045; we had 17 skaters, they had 14 &045; and it was end-to-end action. It made for a fun game.&uot;

And one much closer than the score indicates.

Austin scored a pair of quick goals in the third period to pull within 5-4, and the Blades didn’t score their sixth goal until just more than two minutes remained. They added another about 30 seconds later and scored again with four seconds on the clock.

&uot;They came out like gangbusters in the third period and, for the most part, took it to us,&uot; said Fornwald, who played the first two periods in the net before being replaced by Josh Heilman. &uot;It wasn’t Josh’s fault they scored those two goals. He made some great saves to keep us in the lead.&uot;

Jeremy Hendrickson scored twice for the Blades, including the important sixth goal. His younger brother Levi, a first-year Blade, scored once. Adding one goal apiece were Mike Nelson, Scott Heilman, Dave Nystrom, Justin Bolinger and Chad Hacker. Nystrom had two assists. Albert Lea outshot Austin 52-38.