St. Norbert made a statement against Augsburg Saturday, rolling to a 6-1 win over the nationally ranked Auggies. That game was among the highlights of the weekend.
Concordia kept itself in the hunt for a MIAC title while Bethel remained in the hunt for a playoff berth.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point continued its winning ways and the UW-River Falls earned a much-needed split against Wisconsin-Superior. Marian won the Battle of Highway 41.
Here are some of the top storylines of the weekend
Green Knights dominate Auggies
St. Norbert has been playing its best hockey as of late and continued that trend Saturday with a 6-1 win over then 12th-ranked Augsburg.
After starting the season 2-7, the Green Knights have gone 11-1-2 in their last 14 games.
But they trailed Augsburg 1-0 early before Peter Bates came through with his 14th goal of the year. Bates has now scored in 16 consecutive games and has at least one goal in seven of his team’s last eight games.
Tim Nicksic gave St. Norbert the lead for good at 2-1 before the Green Knights scored four times in the third to ice the game.
Nicksic tallied two assists while Bates, Peyton Frantti and Ben Schmidling all came through with a goal and an assist. Kurt Black dished out two assists. Coby Entz made 20 saves for the Green Knights.
St. Norbert sits at 13-8-2 on the season.
Concordia closes the gap
The Cobbers split a weekend series with Gustavus, winning the first game 3-2 before falling 5-2 in the finale. Still, they managed to close within three points of Augsburg, which is in first place with 26.
Alex Stoley came through the second game-winning goal of his career at Don Roberts Ice Arena on Friday and helped extend the Cobbers’ win streak to six games.
Aaron Herdt scored his 11th goal of the year in the win.
The Gusties responded on Saturday to salvage a split. Caleb Anderson scored what would be the game winner, giving the Cobers a 3-2 lead in the second and J.P. Ekyn put the Gusties ahead 4-2 with his fourth goal of the year. Robbie Goor made 30 saves.
Gustavus improved to 10-8-3 overall and 6-4-2 in the MIAC and are in third with 22 points. Concordia is 10-9-2 overall and 7-4-1 in the conference standings.
Four is enough
Four was the magic number in the rivalry series between St. Thomas and Saint John’s. The Tommies skated to a 4-2 win Friday before the Johnnies bounced back with a 4-0 win Saturday.
In the finale, the Johnnies were outshot 42-25 but it didn’t matter with Andrew Lindgren in goal. He stopped every shot that came his way for his first shutout of the year and fifth of his career.
Offensively, this was the fifth time the Johnnies have scored four goals in a win over the Tommies and they are now 4-1-1 in road games against their rival.
Tanner Default scored a goal and dished out an assist while Russel Harren and Dan Wieber also scored goals. Auggie Moore tallied a goal as well.
The Tommies were much happier with the way Friday went as they scored three goals in the third period and never looked back.
It was a memorbable night for Brett Gravelle who hit the century mark in points and then added another one as he tallied two assists for St. Thomas.
Henry Baribeau made 26 saves to earn the win.
St. Thomas had the upper hand in shots on Friday as well, taking 46 compared to just 28 for the Johnnies.
Saint John’s is in third with an 8-8-5 overall mark and 5-3-4 record in conference play. St. Thomas is fifth at 9-8-3 overall and 6-5-1 in the MIAC.
Royals still in the hunt for playoff berth
Bethel and St. Olaf tied 2-2 in the final game of their series Saturday, but on Friday night, the Royals were rolling as they won 5-1 over the Oles.
Nick Ketola paved the way as he scored twice and dished out an assist while Luke Posner came through a goal and an assist in the win. The Royals sit at 6-13-3 overall and 5-5-3 in the MIAC and are fourth in the conference standings.
Bethel has been one of the turnaround stories of the year and already has two more wins than it did all of last season. Bethel is 3-2-1 in its last six games.
Pointers power their way to sweep
UW-Stevens Point was clicking offensive in a sweep of Wisconsin-Stout, winning 9-1 on Friday before closing out the series with an 8-3 win Saturday.
The Pointers have scored 23 goals in all in three games against the Blue Devils and seven different players scored in the finale of the series.
Colin Raver helped lead the way with two goals and an assist while Brennen Miller scored a goal and tallied two assists.
Kelly O’Brien finished his day with three assists.
Ryan Wagner stepped up in goal and earned his first career win. He played the final 40 minutes of the game and made 20 saves.
Falcons salvage split
After losing 3-2 to UW-Superior Thursday, the Falcons bounced back Saturday with a convincing 5-1 win and move into third place in the WIAC standings.
Chase Richardson scored a goal and dished out an assist while Chase Hausinger came through with two assists.
Gabe Wahl, Jackson Nauss and Jake Skolnik all scored as well for the Falcons, who held a 28-24 advantage in shots.
Zach Quinn stopped 23 shots to notch the win in goal.
The Falcons have won two of their last three and improve to 14-6-3 overall and 6-5-2 in the WIAC.
Tie it up
Aurora and Lake Forest played to a pair of ties over the weekend. They left Friday’s game even at 1-1 and skated to a 2-2 tie on Saturday.
The two teams scored within 36 seconds of each other Friday. Austin Aksoy scored his 10th goal of the year while Mark DerManulian assisted on the goal as he became the first Lake Forest player in a decade to get to 20 assists. Riley Doyon scored the lone goal for the Spartans.
On Saturday, Connor Duncan assisted on both goals for the Foresters. Josh Giacomin scored his 12th goal of the year, tied for the most on the team.
Larry Jungwirth punched in two goals in a span of just over three minutes to provide all of the offense for the Spartans.
Sabres sweep rivalry
Marian won the Battle of Highway 41, sweeping its two games against Lawrence. The Sabres won 3-1 Friday and closed out the series with a 5-2 win Saturday.
In Saturday’s finale, the Sabres trailed 2-0 before rallying for the victory. Bret Radford gave Marian the lead for good at 3-2 in the second period. It was his eighth goal of the year. Ty Enns stepped up in the third, scoring his 10th goal of the season. The Sabres dominated on shot attempts, finishing the night with 61 while holding Lawrence to just 19.
