Cold weather. An outdoor rink. A game between two rivals in a key MIAC game under the lights in Minnesota’s Polar Lake Park.
The setting couldn’t have been any better for the Division III showdown featuring Saint John’s and Augsburg last Friday night.
The ending was even better, with Jackson Sabo of the Johnnies scoring a goal 2:16 into the overtime to lift Saint John’s to a 5-4 come-from-behind win.
The goal was his third of the year and lifted Saint John’s to a Hockey Day in Minnesota victory.
Nick Michel had tied the game at 4-4 with 1:03 to go in regulation, forcing the OT.
Auggie Moore scored twice in the opening period for the Johnnies, who led 2-1 after those goals.
Gavin Holland, however, was equally impressive and would end his night with the first hat trick of his career. He scored twice off the power play and added a third goal in the final period to give the Auggies a 3-2 advantage.
Jack Johsnon tied the score at 3-3 before Eric Palmqvist put the Auggies back on top with under five minutes to play in the third.
It was fitting that the game played out the way it did considering it was the first MIAC game held on Hockey Day in Minnesota, which began in 2007. It was only the second ever Division III game held at the event. That game between St. Thomas and UW-Stout was played at the Xcel Energy Center in 2017.
Jack Robbel made 17 saves for Augsburg. Bailey Huber tallied 29 saves for Saint John’s.
The two teams played again on Saturday on Saturday in St. Cloud, and this time the Auggies got the win, holding on for a 6-5 victory to snap their two-game losing streak.
Jared Blackowiak scored twice and dished out three assist to place the Auggies, who improved to 10-8-1 overall and 6-4 in the MIAC. Saint John’s is now 11-8-2 overall and 7-4-1.
Blackowiak scored two of the Auggies’ final three goals. Austin Dollimer added a goal and an assist.
Samuel Vyletelka made 28 saves for his eighth win of the year.
Rob Christy and Matt DeRosa both tallied a goal and an assist for the Johnnies.
Saints still in first place
St. Scholastica earned a pair of wins against Hamline this past weekend to keep its hold on first place in the MIAC.
After winning 2-0 on Friday, the Saints edged the Pipers 4-3 on Saturday to complete the sweep. They improved to 12-5-2 overall and 9-0-1 in the conference and are four points ahead of the Johnnies in the standings. The Pipers are 9-9-1 overall and 2-8 in MIAC play.
Nathan Adrian came through with an unassisted goal in OT to give the Saints the win. Jack Boestedt made 38 saves. Kevin Lake tallied 26 saves for Hamline.
St. Scholastica led 2-1 after two periods. Brandon Bissett’s goal with 31 seconds to go in regulation helped Hamline tie the game at 3-3 and force OT. Hamline held a 41-30 edge in shots.
Cobbers are on a roll
Concordia is getting hot at just the right time. The Cobbers wrapped up their second series sweep over the weekend with a pair of 5-2 wins over St. Olaf.
Once down and out, the Cobbers have surged into the conference tourney picture, moving into fifth place and sitting just two points out of third. The Cobbers are 9-9-1 overall and 6-4 in the MIAC after beating the reigning conference tourney champs. They haven’t allowed more than two goals in any of their games during the current win streak.
On Saturday, Justin Fitzgerald made 16 saves for his fifth win of the year. Kevin Ness scored a pair of goals for the Cobbers. Lukas Haugen tallied 19 saves for the Oles, who are 11–9-1 overall and 5-7 in the MIAC. St. Olaf is in sixth place now but just one point behind the Cobbers for fifth.
Blue Devils earn split with Pointers
UW-Stout came away from the weekend with a hard-earned split over nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point.
The Blue Devils ended the weekend with a 3-1 win. The No. 10 Pointers won Friday’s game 4-1 and are still in first place in the WIAC standings with a 13-5-3 overall mark and 9-2 record in conference play. UW-Stout is 15-5-1 overall and 6-4-1 in the WIAC.
In Saturday’s showdown, the Blue Devils scored twice in the third to secure the win.
Matt Daehlside and Dylan Rallis gave the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead before Fletcher Anderson cut the advantage to 2-1. Caleb Serre finished off the scoring for UW-Stout. Tyler Masternak made 28 saves. Ryan Wagner tallied 25 for the Pointers.
On Friday, Sean Bunting scored his first career goal for the Pointers’ first goal of the game to highlight the win. Wagner made 28 saves. Dawson Green came up with 22 saves for the Blue Devils.
Ahern notches first win
It was a big night for Colin Ahren in Saturday’s game against Northland as the UW-Eau Claire goaltender notched the first victory of his college career.
He made 16 saves in a hard-fought 5-3 win against a Lumberjacks team that didn’t make things easy.
In fact, Northland (1-19-1, 1-10) scored the first goal of the game thanks to Jake Lamberty, who was sidelined last year by a battle with cancer.
The Blugolds would score the next two goals before Andrew Liwiski tied the game at 2-2 just near the midway point of the third period. Back-to-back goals by Ryan Green in a span of under five minutes put the Blugolds on top for good.
Colin Stein scored the final goal for UW-Eau Claire (14-6-1, 7-3-1), which has now won its last three games. Viktor Wennberg made 34 saves for the Lumberjacks.
The Blugolds needed OT to hold off the Lumberjacks on Friday night in a 4-3 win. Up 3-1, Taylor Ewing and Luke Harge scored a little over seven minutes apart in the third to tie the game. Quinn Green, though, would respond for the Blugolds in OT, scoring with less than a minute to play. It was his second goal of the game. He also tallied two assists.
OT is kind to the Yellowjackets this time
UW-Superior has played eight games since Dec. 2. Four have gone to overtime. In all four games, the Yellowjackets couldn’t pick up a win.
But that changed on Saturday as C.J. Walker scored 15 seconds into the extra session to lift UW-Superior to a 2-1 win.
The Yellowjackets improve to 12-7-2 overall and 7-3-1 in the WIAC. MacGregor Sinclair scored the other goal for UW-Superior. He also had an assist in the win. Charles Martin finished with two assists.
UW-River Falls is now 7-13-1 overall and 1-9-1 in the WIAC.
The Yellowjackets end a three-game winless streak on Friday with a 1-0 win over the Falcons. Martin’s power play goal in the third accounted for the only scoring of the game.
Trine Time
The Thunder faced an uphill climb in Saturday’s game against nationally ranked St. Norbert. They trailed 2-0 after one period but remained unfazed as they rallied for a 3-2 win in overtime over the Green Knights, who are currently ranked 14th in the USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll.
Brendan Prappas was the hero. He tied the game at 3-3 with less than two minutes to play to force OT and then scored the game-winner just over a minute into the extra session as the Thunder improved to 13-7-1 overall and 6-6 in the NCHA.
Goals by Michael McChesney and Mark Brendan put the Green Knights up 2-0 after one. St. Norbert got off 13 shots in the opening period. The Thunder answered with two goals in the third, including one by Drew Welsch.
Johnny Roberts made 25 saves for the Green Knights. Cristian Wong-Ramos tallied 19 for the Thunder. Wong-Ramos was tough late as St. Norbert took six shots in the final 15 seconds of play. He made two saves during that stretch and Brett Tierney came up with a huge block.
On Friday, Trine fell 4-2 to St. Norbert.
The Thunder led 2-1 before the Green Knights scored the final three goals to seal the deal. Adam Stacho’s goal with less than four minutes to play proved to be the game winner.
Sabres shine against Spartans
Marian scored three goals in the final period of play to secure a 3-1 win over nationally ranked Aurora in NCHA action.
Mason Richey scored twice and Daunte Fortner scored his sixth goal of the year as the Sabres improved to 3-2-1 this season against ranked opponents.
The Sabres are 8-11-2 overall and 5-7-2 in the conference. Aurora is 15-4-2 overall and 11-1-2 in the league. Ty Mosimann tallied three assists in the win.
Aurora won 5-4 in OT on Friday thanks to a goal by Matt Weber a little over two minutes into the extra session. The goal by Weber was his second of the game.
Fortner had tied the game at 4-4 with less than two minutes to play to force OT.
