A little history was made over the weekend for nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point as it won the 700th game in the modern era of the program.
The No. 13 Pointers did it with a 5-2 win over Saint Mary’s on Friday and then capped things off with a hard-fought 4-3 win in overtime against St. Olaf. The modern era began in 1987.
Against the Oles on Saturday, stretched its home win streak to three thanks to an OT goal by Evan Junker.
Noah Finstrom helped spark the offense as he scored two goals for the Pointers (3-2), both goals coming in the opening period of play.
Gino Colangelo then made it 3-0 in favor of the Pointers before the Oles (2-3-1) sparked a rally.
Camden Benson, Tyler Green and Troy Bowditch all scored to pull St. Olaf into a 3-3 tie.
Junker’s goal two minutes into OT sealed UW-Stevens Point’s victory.
Kelijah McElroy had two assists for the Oles and Thomas Lalonde made 33 saves. Alex Proctor racked up 13 saves for the Pointers. Dawson Sciarrino dished out two assists.
On Friday, Proctor made 24 saves. Matt Sanker of Saint Mary’s tallied 37 saves.
Fletcher Anderson, Mick Heneghan, Andrew Poulias and Conor Witherspoon all had a goal and assist.
Johnnies notch big MIAC win
Saint John’s won its first conference game of the year in a 5-2 win over rival Concordia.
The Johnnies won their game on the strength of four special teams goals and led 5-0 before the Cobbers finally got on the board in the final three minutes of play.
Lewis Crosby and Jack Olsen each came through with a goal and an assist as Saint John’s improved to 2-3 overall an 1-1 in the MIAC. Jon Howe stopped 27 shots for his first win of the year. Crosby’s goal was the 25th of his collegiate career.
Adam Brown and Hunter Bjorge scored for the Cobbers, who held a 29-28 edge in shots but couldn’t avoid their first loss of the season. They are 4-1-1 overall and 1-1 in the MIAC.
Saints finish sweep of Gusties
St. Scholastica is still undefeated after completing a sweep of Gustavus Saturday with a 4-3 win. It’s the third time this year the Saints have scored four or more goals in a game.
Jack Bostedt earned his fourth win of the year in goal and Carse Richels scored the game winner late in the third to help the No. 14 Saints stretch their lead to 4-2 and hang on for the win.
Filimon Ledenkov dished out two assists while Nathan Adrian, Brodie Girod and Tristan Shewchuk all scored to help the Saints improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in MIAC play.
Gustavus falls to 2-3-1 and is 0-2 in the conference.
The Oles tied the game at 1-1 in the first on a goal by Grant Ellings and pulled even at 2-2 in the third on a goal by Marc Fietemeyer. A power play goal by Wilmer Svensson with under 20 seconds to play in the game gave the Oles their final score of the night. Gustavus lost 2-0 to St. Scholastica in the series opener Thursday.
Yellowjackets notch first win
No goals in back-to-back games. No wins in their first four games. It hadn’t been the easiest start for the UW-Superior Yellowjackets.
That all changed Saturday as the UW-Superior topped Saint Mary’s 4-2 and got things back on track.
Chris Ishmael played a key role, scoring twice and dishing out an assist, while Tristan Therrien tallied a goal and an assist. Terry Ryder also found the back of the net as the Yellowjackets (1-4) put the difficult start to the year behind them.
Jack Boschert came through with his first win at the college level, racking up 28 saves, several of which were from point-blank range as he put his skill on display one night after the Yellowjackets lost 2-0 to Bethel.
Auggies top Lumberjacks
Augsburg snapped a two-game losing streak and won its second game of the season with a 5-3 win over Northland Saturday.
The Auggies scored three goals in the opening period and led 4-2 after two, holding off a fierce Northland rally.
Cade Stibbe was on top of his game, scoring a goal and tallying two assists, to help fuel the attack for Augsburg (2-2-1). Erik Palmqvist tallied a goal and assist. Kyle Yeo scored his first goal of the year in the win while Samuel Vyletelka made 25 saves. Augsburg dominated in the shot department, getting 45 off in the game.
Camille Marcoux and Bryson Cecconi led Northland, each scoring a goal and assist, while Viktor Wennberg stayed busy in goal, making 40 saves. Northland is 1-5 on the year.
Royals and Blugolds play to tie
Forget that No. 5 UW-Eau Claire was up against unranked Bethel. Nothing ever comes easy in D-III hockey. And consider that the Royals came in as an unbeaten team.
The Blugolds, also unbeaten entering the night, overcame a 1-0 first-period deficit, tying the game in the second, and each team scored once in the third before playing a scoreless OT period.
Kyler Gundy tied the game at 1-1 and Tyler Herzberg scored a go-ahead goal with just 1:11 remaining in the third. The Royals answered to force extra hockey.
Matt Gutjahr stepped up in goal, coming through with 39 shots. Bethel held a 41-34 advantage in shots.
Despite the tie, UW-Eau Claire stays unbeaten, now sitting at 3-0-1. The Blugolds face a huge test Tuesday night when they take on rival UW-Stevens Point on the road in an early-season WIAC showdown.
Bethel got its first goal from Tyler Kostelecky. Justin Kelley forced OT when he scored with less than a minute left. The Royals are still unbeaten as well on the year, sporting a 4-0-2 mark.
Falcons beat Pipers
After suffering a 3-0 loss to St. Olaf on Friday night, UW-River Falls bounced back in a big way as it snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Hamline.
The Falcons (3-2) were outshot 33-31 but still found a way to pull out the win.
Arseni Smekhnov got the scoring started for UW-River Falls, scoring late in the first period. It was his first goal of the year.
That lead would hold through the period and neither team scored in the second.
Owen Belisle gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead in the third with his first goal of the year.
Hamline scored its only goal with under six minutes left but the Falcons held off any further attempt at a rally, thanks in part to the play in goal by Dean Buchholz, who made his first start of the season and stopped 32 shots.
Brandon McNamara scored the lone goal for the Pipers (3-3).
Bulldogs still perfect in conference play
MSOE wasn’t going to make it easy on Adrian in the series finale Saturday night.
But with time winding down in OT, Julien Jacob was clutch, scoring the game winner with two seconds left to lift the No. 2 Bulldogs to a 3-2 win.
Adrian, which won 3-2 in regulation on Friday against a tough MSOE squad, has won its last four and improved to 4-1-1 overall and 4-0 in the NCHA.
Adrian dominated in the shots taken category, firing off 45, compared to just 18 by the Raiders.
Jacob also had an assist in the win while Ryan Pitoscia and Connor May also scored goals. Dershahn Stewart made 16 saves. Austin Schwab was tough in goal despite being constantly tested as he made 42 saves. Jonathan Lapsa and Adam Smith scored the goals for the Raiders, who are still searching for their first NCHA win. They are 2-3-1 overall and 0-3-1 in the conference.
Matt Rehding scored the game winner on Friday for the Bulldogs. He punched in the goal with 13 seconds left in regulation.
Spartans shine in sweep
On the road in NCHA play, Aurora rose to the occasion against Lawrence, earning a 5-2 victory to complete a series sweep.
Five different players scored as Matt Weber, John Holland, Chase Broda, Hassan Akl and Derrick Budz all scored goals. Budz also dished out two assists. Tyler Pang didn’t find the back of the net but he did assist on three of the Spartan goals while JaCob Mucitelli made 21 saves as Aurora pushed its overall record to 3-2-1. It is 3-1 in the NCHA.
Lawrence dropped to 2-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the conference.
Aurora was just as dominant on Friday in the series opener as it rolled to a 6-1 win. Jacob Brockman led the way with two goals. Alec Schwab came through with three assists.
Thunder and Green Knights split
The final night of a battle between two NCHA contenders ended with St. Norbert rolling past Trine 4-0.
It marked the first loss of the year for Trine, which is now 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the NCHA.
The Green Knights improved to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference, winning for the second time on the road this season.
Hunter Garvey made 23 saves in his first collegiate start while goals from Logan Dombrowsky and Liam Fraser on the same power play put the the Green Knights in control with a 3-0 lead.
Braden Lindstrom finished off the scoring with under five minutes remaining. Adam Stacho also scored a goal.
A balanced attack on Friday night led Trine to a 5-4 victory over St. Norbert. First-period goals by Sam Antenucci and Josh Wright staked Trine out to a 2-0 lead. Tied at 2-2, Thad Marcola scored to put Trine ahead 3-2 after two periods.
Chase McCardle and Drew Welsch scored in the first six minutes of the third to help Trine pull away. Kyle Kozma helped Trine hold off a late St. Norbert rally. Johnny Roberts made 17 saves for the Green Knights.
