Hamline highlighted its weekend with a pair of big non-conference wins, capping it off with a 2-1 overtime win over UW-Superior on Saturday.
The Pipers have won their last five games and are now 8-6-1 on the season.
Ryan Brandt came through with the game-winning goal at the 1:05 mark of OT to lift the Pipers to their fifth win of the season over a WIAC opponent. Hamline finishes 5-1 against the WIAC this season.
Andrew Erwin scored in regulation for Hamline before C.J. Walker tied the game at 1-1.
Brandt then cashed in on a turnover by UW-Superior (10-6-1), going coast to coast with the puck before scoring from 10 feet away to give Hamline its third consecutive OT win over a WIAC opponent.
Keven Lake made 30 saves Hamine. Myles Hektor stopped 20 shots for the Yellowjackets.
One night earlier, the Pipers defeated UW-Eau Claire 3-2 in OT.
Down 2-0 going into the third period, the Pipers struck for two goals in the final 20 minutes of regulation before Erik Dahl scored a little over three minutes into the extra session.
Brandt and Jackson Willie both scored in the third to force OT.
Cade Lemmer and Ian Carpenter had given the Blugolds (10-6) a 2-0 lead in the second.
Johnnies stun Pointers
Bailey Huber was on top of his game Saturday night for Saint John’s. And that worked out well for the Johnnies.
The sophomore netminder made a career-best 41 saves and to help Saint John’s stun nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point, marking the first win for the program over the Pointers since November of 2007.
Peter Tabor, Spender Rudrud and Jack Johnson all scored goals for the Johnnies, with Johnson putting the Johnnies ahead for good at the 11:51 mark of the third period. It was the first goal of the season for Johnson and the 15th of his career.
The win is the ninth of the year for the Johnnies (9-6-2), who got a much-needed bounce-back win after losing 3-1 to UW-Stout the night before.
The Pointers (10-2-3), ranked 10th in the USCHO.com poll, got goals from Mick Heneghan and Fletcher Anderson. UW-Stevens Point defeated Concordia on Friday behind two goals from Andrew Poulias.
Royals earn split with Auggies
Bethel and Augsburg split a key MIAC series over the weekend, with the Royals winning the opener 4-1 before losing 3-2 to the Auggies in the finale on Saturday.
Friday’s victory for Bethel was its first over Augsburg since 2012. The Auggies came into the game ranked 12th in the nation.
Dylan Schneider gave Augsburg an early 1-0 lead before Dylan Giorgio tied it for Bethel.
Tyler Braccini put Bethel ahead for good late in the opening period.
Jack Bayless and Caydon Meyer added goals in the second and third periods, respectively, to seal the deal.
Bethel (9-7-1, 4-3-1) wasn’t as fortunate on Saturday as the Auggies (8-6-1, 4-2) scored twice in the third to secure the win.
Gavin Holland gave Augsburg the lead for good with 8:05 left in the game.
Bethel is currently in fourth place in the MIAC standings. Augsburg is sixth. The teams are separated by three points.
Cardinals and Oles split series
St. Olaf salvaged its weekend MIAC series with Saint Mary’s, scoring five goals in the third period on their way to a 5-2 win on Saturday night.
The Cardinals (8-8-1, 4-4) had beaten the Oles (11-5-1, 5-3) 8-2 on Friday but couldn’t keep things rolling in their direction Saturday.
Matthew Pointer scored twice in the period, including the go-ahead goal while Sean Walsh, Troy Bowditch and Jonathan Panisa all scored as well in the third. Lukas Haugen made 32 saves, including 17 in the third, to help St. Olaf seal the deal.
In Friday’s game, the Cardinals jumped in front 4-0 after one period and never looked back. Brady Lindauer scored a pair of goals to pace the offense. The eight goals by Saint Mary’s were the most since the Cardinals scored eight against Hamline in February of 2014.
Saint Mary’s is in fifth place in the standings and St. Olaf is third.
Blugolds bounce back
After losing 3-2 to Hamline on Friday, UW-Eau Claire defeated St. Scholastica 6-3 on Saturday.
The Blugolds took control early with four goals in the first period.
Jordan Randall tallied a goal and two assist while Kyle Oleksiuk finished with a goal and an assist. Max Gutjahr won his 10th game of the season as he stopped 33 shots.
Carsen Richels led St. Scholastica with a goal and an assist.
The Blugolds improved to 10-5 while the Saints fell to 8-5-2.
Raiders split with Thunder
MSOE won its third consecutive game Friday night with a 2-1 overtime win over Trine in the first of two NCHA games against the Thunder.
Kevin Paganini scored the game winner just under two minutes into the OT period. Jackson Hughes scored the other goal for the Raiders, won won despite being outshot 29-18.
On Saturday, Trine avenged the loss with a 5-2 win, scoring three goals in the second period.
Five different players scored goals for the Thunder and Thad Marcola dished out three assists. Kyle Kozma made 22 saves.
MSOE is now 11-6 overall and 6-4 in the NCHA. Trine is 12-6-1 overall and 7-5 in conference play.
Green Knights record sweep
St. Norbert finished off a sweep of Lake Forest on Saturday with a 5-2 win. The Green Knights improved to 11-5-1 overall and 8-2 in the conference.
The No. 9 Green Knights scored twice three times in the third to seal the deal after earning a 3-1 win in Friday’s opener.
Michael Spethmann scored twice and dished out an assist in Saturday’s victory. Ben Schmidling added a goal and two assists. Liam Fraser tallied three assists.
Bulldogs dominate Lions
Third-ranked Adrian cruised past Finlandia over the weekend by the scores of 6-0 and 7-1.
Hunter Wendt scored twice in Friday’s shutout win. Ryan Pitoscia also scored a pair of goals. Riley Murphy punched in two goals in Saturday’s game while Jackson Bernard made his collegiate debut and made five saves.
Adrian is 14-2-1 overall and 8-2 in the NCHA after the sweep.
Spartans sweep Falcons
Aurora scored four times in the opening period on Saturday and rolled to a 6-1 win.
Adam Keyes scored a goal and dished out two assists while Gio Procopio came through with two assists in the win.
The seventh-ranked Spartans are now 14-3-2 overall and remain unbeaten in NCHA play with a 10-0-2 record. Kolby Thornton made 35 saves in the victory, the fifth in a row for the Spartans.
The game was much closer on Friday as Concordia scored four times in the third to make things interesting late. Aurora held on for a 6-5 win.
Keyes record the 100th point of his Aurora career in the win off a power-play goal. Carson Riddle scored his first career goal for the Spartans. Keyes, meanwhile, is the first player in Aurora history to get to the 100-point mark.
The Falcons tied the game in the first 10 minutes of the third before Jacob Brockman scored the go-ahead goal.
