Photo by Emily Daniels Marshall’s Joe Archbold controls the puck during their game against Windom Area on Tuesday. The Tigers defeated the Eagles 6-2.

MARSHALL – Off to their best start since 2011-12, the Marshall boys hockey team continued its winning ways Tuesday night with a 6-2 victory over Windom Area. Mason Plante and Landon Frost had a successful night with two goals each that helped contribute to the Tigers’ win.

A team that plays well together stays together. Marshall coach Michael Weiss knows how well the team plays together and a lot of that comes from the upperclassmen leadership that has been on the team for many years.

“Our boys play really well together, they move the puck well and make a lot of really good plays that set up some good chances,” said Weiss. “We have a lot of juniors and seniors in the lineup who have been playing for many years and this helps set that good example for our success.”

It didn’t take Marshall long to find itself with an early and fast lead. Just 40 seconds into the game, Frost scored the first Tigers goal of the night on the assist from Joe Archbold and Plante to put themselves up 1-0. The Tigers remained dominant on the offensive end and found themselves in the right place at the right time, as Archbold found the back of the net on the assist from Plante.

Marshall didn’t stop there, as it continued to use its strong offensive play to find the back of the net once more with just 11:44 remaining in the period. This time it was Bryson Whyte who recorded a goal on the assist from Jackson Bladholm to give the Tigers a steady 3-0 lead. Marshall wasn’t done just yet, however, as Frost put one past the goaltender for the second time on the assist from Plante and Blake Kruse to end the first period with a 4-0 lead.

The second period started out slow and saw a lot of back and forth effort from both teams. Windom found an opening in the Tigers defense and scored a goal to put itself on the board with 5:51 to go in the period. The Tigers didn’t let the Eagles goal stop them from finding their opportunity as Plante took the spotlight and scored an unassisted goal to extend the Tigers lead to 5-1 to end the second period.

As the Tigers held a steady lead going into the third period, they knew they had to keep their heads in the game and finish strong. Plante saw another chance at the net and capitalized, this time scoring on the assist from Tristan VanDeVere, and the Tigers took a 6-1 lead early in the frame. The Eagles kept their heads up and waited as they found one last opportunity to score and got it with 13:01 remaining in the game. Neither team could find a scoring opportunity the rest of the way, though, and the Tigers walked away with a 6-2 victory over Windom.

The Tigers will be back in action on Thursday as they take on Redwood Valley at home at 7:15 p.m.

Going forward, Weiss wants the team to be able to play their game and not hurt their chances with multiple penalties.

“We need to stay out of the box and we need to play 5-on-5 hockey instead of having to kill so many penalties throughout the game,” said Weiss.