BRAINERD — It was a disappointing night for the Brainerd Warriors Tuesday, Jan. 13.
Coming off a 2-2 tie on the road against Roseau Saturday, Jan. 10, Brainerd head coach Jerr Johnson thought his team was building momentum in the middle of the season.
Whatever momentum gained was halted by an 8-1 loss to Buffalo at Essentia Health Sports Center.
After a scoreless first period, Buffalo scored three goals in 1:30 to take a 3-0 lead with 6:26 left in the second period.
“That was the hard part about this game, which is that we’ve really struggled in first periods at home and we had a good start,” Johnson said. “It just got away from us in the second period. We had been playing some good hockey coming into the game.”
Cooper Dalbec scored back-to-back goals and Evan Hinnenkamp, who assisted on the first goal, made it 3-0 with an unassisted goal.
Brainerd showed a little life with a power-play goal with 2:06 left in the second period. Zander Peterson scored his third goal of the season on assists from Ben Fields and Connor Fulton.
Brainerd celebrates Zander Peterson’s second-period goal against Buffalo on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at Essentia Health Sports Center in Brainerd.
Conrad Engstrom / Brainerd Dispatch
“What’s disappointing is we have really grown the last few weeks,” Johnson said. “We had two power-play goals against Detroit Lakes and have improved on that.”
Buffalo scored twice in the final minute of the second period to lead 5-1. Nolan Rumsch scored on an assist from Brandon Rodenwald. Rodenwald earned his third assist with 10 seconds left in the second period on Russell Ylitalo’s goal.
“We got it to 3-1 and we thought we were going to have a battle in the third period, but we gave up those two goals to end the second, which is hard to come back from,” Johnson said.
Brainerd’s Griffin Bartholomaus makes a save against Buffalo on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at Essentia Health Sports Center in Brainerd.
Conrad Engstrom / Brainerd Dispatch
The Bison made it 6-1 56 seconds into the third period when Jaxson Murphy scored on an assist from Rumsch. Murphy scored the last goal of the game with three minutes left. Drew Lindquist added a power-play goal with 5:28 left.
The Bison outshot Brainerd 34-10. Brainerd’s Griffin Bartholomaus played the first two periods and recorded 20 saves. Tristan Rollins made six saves in the third period.
“Buffalo is a good team and has had some good wins,” Johnson said. “They defend well and have a strong defensive core. We knew we were not going to get a lot of opportunities. We got away from our game a little bit, but we will get to bounce back with how busy our schedule is.”
The Warriors moved to 2-9-2 and will travel to play Willmar Thursday, Jan. 15, before hosting Spring Lake Park Friday, Jan. 16.
“I’m sure we will have some conversations about what we need to be prepared for to fix for our game against Willmar on Thursday,” Johnson said.
Brainerd head coach Jerr Johnson coaches against Buffalo on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, at Essentia Health Sports Center in Brainerd.
Conrad Engstrom / Brainerd Dispatch
Second period: Buf-Cooper Dalbec (Evan Hinnenkamp, Russell Ylitalo) 9:06, Buf-Cooper Dalbec (Brandon Rodenwald) 9:57, Buf-Hinnenkamp 10:34, Brd-Zander Peterson (Ben Fields, Connor Fulton) PPG 14:54, Buf-Nolan Rumsch (Rodenwald) 15:55, Buf-Ylitalo (Rodenwald) 16:50
Third period: Buf-Jaxson Murphy (Rumsch) 0:56, Buf-Drew Lindquist (Russell Ylitalo, Brandon Rondenwald) PPG 11:32, Buf-Jaxon Murphy (Charlie Rosso, Nolan Rumsch) 13:57
Shots on goal: Brd 10, Buf 34
Goalies: Brd-Griffin Bartholomaus (20 saves), Tristan Rollins (6 saves); Buf-Aubrey Baker (9 saves)
Overall: Brd 2-9-2. Next: Brainerd at Willmar 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15.