Another weekend is in the books in college hockey and among the highlights was Lake Forest stunning reigning national runner-up St. Norbert to earn a split in their NCHA series, Hamline winning a pair of games against St. Olaf to surge to the top of the MIAC standings, and Wisconsin-Superior picking up a nonconference win over St. Thomas. Also in the MIAC, Saint John’s and Concordia split a pivotal early-season series, while in the NCHA, Adrian continued its domination of Northland.
MIAC
Saint Mary’s trailed nationally ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire 3-0 Friday night, but the Cardinals didn’t go down without a fight, scoring three unanswered goals to forge a 3-3 tie with the Blugolds. It was the third time this year Saint Mary’s has played an overtime game. Alex DiBacco scored the game-tying goal. Taylor Portner and Bob Kinne also scored for the Cardinals, who returned to the ice Saturday to knock off Wisconsin-River Falls, 5-3, on the strength of four first-period goals. Jay Heinle scored twice for the Cardinals. Adam Knochenmus, Jacob Wolter, and Jake Hopfner all tallied goals for the Blugolds in their loss to Saint Mary’s. The Blugolds came up short in their bid to bounce back Saturday, losing 2-1 in overtime to Augsburg. Nate Flynn scored the game-winner for the Auggies. Jesse Tredinnick tallied the lone goal for the Blugolds.
Bethel came through with an impressive win over previously unbeaten Wisconsin-Stout, knocking off the Blue Devils 6-2 Friday. Johan King scored his first collegiate goal and helped the Royals win their first game of the year. The Royals forced the Blue Devils to come up empty in four power-play opportunities. Justin Bonanno scored twice for Bethel and Joe Sheppard stopped 24 shots en route to the win.
Saint John’s and Concordia split their weekend MIAC series, with the Johnnies winning the opener 5-2 before falling 5-1 to the Cobbers Saturday. The Cobbers scored three times in the second period to break open a scoreless game and bounce back from their first loss of the year. Dalton Mills scored twice for Concordia and Jon Grebosky racked up three assists. Garrett Hendrickson and Eddie Eades came through with two assists each as well. Five different Johnnies scored in Friday’s win, while Tyler Nelson racked up 22 saves. Nelson is 4-0 in his career, with two of those wins coming this year. Adam Orn dished out two assists for the Johnnies.
Hamline capped off a perfect weekend against St. Olaf, defeating the Oles 4-1 and 5-4 to move to the top of the MIAC standings. Completing the sweep wasn’t easy. St. Olaf opened up a 3-0 lead Saturday before the Pipers battled back to stay unbeaten. Jesse Kessler, Mitch McPherson, and Russ Jordan all scored in the final period to cap the comeback. The goal for Jordan was his fifth of the year. John Sellie-Hanson made 30 saves. Drew Otto scored a goal and dished out an assist for the Oles, who have yet to win a game. Russ Jordan scored twice in Friday’s win while Justin Quale racked up 27 saves. The game marked the second consecutive where Jordan has scored at least two goals in a game.
NCHA
Lake Forest faced a stern challenge on the road Saturday night against St. Norbert and passed it with flying colors, stunning the second-ranked Green Knights 5-3. Lake Forest had been roughed up 7-0
by St. Norbert Friday night, but bounced back in a big way despite being outshot 40-25. Lake Forest scored three times in the first period to take control. Jack Lewis scored twice, his second multi-goal game of the season, and now has five goals in all this year. Jimmy Cusan’s first goal of the year served as the official game-winner. George Argiropoulos was sensational in goal, recording a career-best 30 saves, including 17 in the second period. In Friday’s game, seven different players scored for the Green Knights. Tanner Froese scored once and tallied two assists, while Brad Pung and Dominick Sacco each tallied a goal and an assist. T.J. Black made 25 saves and won his second game of the year.
Concordia stepped up in a penalty kill situation late in the game and held off the Milwaukee School of Engineering, 4-2, Friday night. The two teams played to a 3-3 tie Saturday. The win was the first of the year for the Falcons, who got an empty-net insurance goal from Taylor Gauld in the third period to secure the win. The goal was the first of the year for Gauld. Jack Romanuik made 23 saves and the Falcons killed off four of the Raiders’ five power-player opportunities. Concordia was 0-for-5 on the power play. Josh Adkins dished out three assists and helped the Falcons beat MSOE for only the third time in program history. All three wins have come in the last four years. In Saturday’s game, Austin Campbell made his season debut for the Raiders and stopped 26 shots. Gage Christianson scored a goal and dished out an assist for the Raiders. Nick Erb did the same for the Falcons.
Adrian finished off a perfect weekend with a sweep of Northland. The Bulldogs closed out the series with a 5-3 win Saturday, scoring three goals in the third period for the second consecutive night. Dillon Kelly got his first victory of the year, tallying 25 saves, and Trevor Boyd dished out three assists. Bryan Yim was one of five Bulldogs who scored. His power-play goal in the third gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead. The Bulldogs are 23-0 all-time against the Lumberjacks, who got a goal and an assist from Joshua Racek.
WIAC
Defending national champion Wisconsin-Stevens Point finished off its weekend with a win, skating to a 5-3 victory over Bethel on the road. The Pointers, who played Gustavus to a 3-3 tie Friday, got a huge game from Jacob Barber, who struck for a pair of goals to help the No. 1 ranked team win its third game of the season. Baxter Kanter came through with his first collegiate goal on a night when the Pointers held a 56-22 advantage in shots. Jesse Gordichuk was solid between the pipes, racking up 20 saves for his second career win. Max Milosek made 16 saves in Friday’s game against the Gusties, including three in the overtime period to preserve the tie. Austin Kelly scored his first career goal in Friday’s game and Nathan Harris punched in his first goal of the year.
Wis.-Superior scored twice in the first period and never looked back to nail down a 2-1 win over St. Thomas in a game played on a neutral site. Jared Dadenbach scored his fourth goal of the season and Viktor Sallhag came through with his first goal of the season as the Yellow Jackets bounced back from an 8-4 loss to Augsburg on Thursday. Ethan Wood made 37 saves to secure the win. Superior was tough against the power play, forcing the Tommies to go 0-for-6 in those situations. Saturday’s game marked the first time all season that Superior did not score more than two goals in a game. The Yellow Jackets tallied 23 goals in their first three games.
