No. 12 Hamline grabbed sole possession of first place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association standings with its two-game sweep of St. Thomas during the weekend.
Hamline, St. Thomas and Gustavus were locked in a three-way tie for first place with with 10 points each going into the weekend. The No. 15 Gusties (11-6-2, 5-3-2) split their home-and-home series with St. John’s.
Alex Lundbohm led the Pipers (11-3-3, 6-0-2) with a five-point weekend, which included a goal and three assists in Friday’s 6-0 rout. Lundbohm also supplied the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 2-1 victory, while senior Beau Christian stopped 66 of 67 shots, earning his fifth career shutout in Friday’s encounter during the two-game set.
“I thought our team defense and Beau Christian played great,” Hamline Coach Scott Bell said. “Overall, everyone played great team defense.
“You’re going to win a lot of games if you only allow one goal in a weekend.”
In Friday’s contest, defenseman Chris Berenguer scored twice and added an assist as the Pipers opened a 3-0 lead in the first 24 minutes. Geoff Sadjadi replaced Tommies’ starting netminder Tyrone Simcoe (5-3) in the second period.
Tommies forward Andrew Kappers provided the team’s only goal in 120 minutes of play, scoring short-handed at 12:49 of the second in Saturday’s rematch. Rob Vannelli and Rob Philipp assisted on the senior’s sixth goal of the campaign.
St. Thomas (10-9, 5-5) outshot Hamline, 37-22.
“We weren’t hitting the back of the net,” St. Thomas Coach Jeff Boeser told TommieMedia. “Everything else went well. We did a better job of getting pucks through tonight, because last night they blocked a lot of our shots.”
New digs, milestone reached
A change of scenery agreed with Wisconsin-Superior, which pulled off a 3-0 upset over Northern Collegiate Hockey Association leader No. 2 St. Norbert on Thursday. Sophomore center Justin Faryna netted two goals while freshman goalie Drew Strandberg stopped 33 shots to earn his first career shutout. It marked the first time this season the Green Knights had been held scoreless.
Due to ongoing ice-equipment problems at Wessman Arena, the weekend series was moved to University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Amsoil Arena on Thursday and Friday.
In Friday’s rematch, St. Norbert outlasted the hosts in a 5-4 goalfest, as Johan Ryd’s short-handed effort at 14:18 in the third was the game-winner. Ryd (6-13-19) added two assists as he raised his game-deciding goal total to five. Kyle Stroh, Seth Soley, Brandon Longley and Dustin Walz also netted goals for St. Norbert (16-3, 10-2).
The victory also elevated St. Norbert’s Tim Coghlin to the NCHA’s all-time winningest coach. With his 371st NCHA win, Coghlin surpassed Bemidji State’s Bob Peters.
“It’s just a testament to the amount of time I’ve been at St. Norbert and remained in Division III,” Coghlin told the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Jeff Forsythe’s goal with 4:18 left pulled the Yellowjackets (12-6-1, 9-3) to within one, but the team managed only four shots on net during the final 20 minutes. B.J. O’Brien (13-2) made 20 saves to earn the win.
Jesse Junkermeier, Talon Berlando and Faryna also had goals for UW-Wisconsin, which entered Friday’s finale in a first-place tie with St. Norbert.
MCHA gridlock
No. 9 Adrian and No. 11 Milwaukee School of Engineering refused to concede an inch at the MCHA summit, as both schools swept their respective series on the road.
The visiting Bulldogs (13-3-1, 10-1-1) scored three unanswered goals, including Andrew Dovey’s game-winner with 8:10 left, to erase a 3-1 deficit to prevail 4-3 in Friday’s contest. Mike Dahlinger, Brad Houston and Eric Miller also scored for Adrian while senior netminder Brad Fogal made 39 saves. Sam Johnson, Ben DiMarco and Matt Hughes notched goals for the Vikings (9-7-1, 7-5).
In Saturday’s game, Zach Graham, Shawn Skelly and Dovey registered goals for Adrian. Matt Hughes scored Lawrence’s lone goal.
Steven Shaffroth and Michael Soik both had four-point weekends as MSOE (13-3-1, 10-1-1) cruised past hosts Finlandia, 6-1 and 5-1. Soik scored twice in Friday’s rout while Jordan Keizer, Todd Krupa and Bradley Tierney also accounted for Raiders’ goals. Sean Burke replied for the Lions, who were outshot 52-26.
Ben Lauder, Mike Pao, Krupa, Soik and Krupa were goal scorers in Saturday’s matinee, as the Raiders unleashed 49 shots on the Finlandia net. Cameron Goude scored for the Lions (1-15, 1-11).
Connor Toomey (11-3-1) saved 47 of 49 shots to earn wins in both games. The pair of losses extended Finlandia’s losing streak to 11 games.
