Parker Gnos is only a freshman. But that didn’t matter Saturday at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica.
Gnos came through the biggest goal of his collegiate career so far, scoring with a little over 11 minutes remaining to put the Johnnies up for good in their battle with No. 8 Oswego.
Matt DeRosa added an empty-netter with 43 seconds to go to seal the deal on a 4-2 win over the Lakers. That goal by DeRosa was his third of the season and the 10th of his career.
Gnos was one of three rookies to find the back of the net. Jackson Bisson and Jack Wandmacher also punched in goals as the Johnnies won their third game of the year and improved to 3-5-1.
Jon Howe started in goal and made 29 saves for his second win of the year and helped the Johnnies end a three-game winless streak.
One night earlier, Saint John’s was on the brink of opening the weekend with a win, giving third-ranked Utica all it could handle in a 1-1 tie.
Bailey Huber was the hero of the night in that one, stopping a career-best 52 shots. The Johnnies managed only 21 shots in the game but were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Max Borst scored the lone goal for the Johnnies.
Here’s a look at some of the other games from Thanksgiving weekend.
Oles fare well out East
St. Olaf didn’t come away with a win in its trip out East this weekend but the Oles did compete hard.
It nearly upset the No. 1 team in the nation on Friday, losing 2-1 to Plattsburgh, and then came away with a 2-2 tie against Middlebury on Saturday.
St. Olaf and Middlebury were playing for the first time ever and the Oles held a 37-24 advantage in shots. Michael Webster and Ben Luscko both scored.
The Oles trailed 2-0 after two periods against Plattsburgh before Tyler Cooper scored with under two minutes to play in regulation. They nearly tied the game in the final seconds as Jonathan Young took a shot attempt that would have force overtime.
St. Olaf was up against a No. 1 team for the fifth time since 2008 and was playing its first against a top-ranked team since 2019 when they lost 8-2 to UW-Stevens Point. Lukas Haugen made 29 saves.
Royals hold off Aurora
Bethel struck for two short-handed goals to carry itself to a 4-2 win over Aurora Sunday on the road.
Tyler Kostelecky scored the first short-handed goal at the 14:02 mark of the third and Luke Posner scored in similar fashion 27 seconds later to help the Royals pull in front 4-2.
Travis Allen took care of the rest in goal as Bethel bounced back from Saturday’s loss to MSOE and improved to 6-2-2 on the season. The Royals are now 2-2 on the road this season after snapping a two-game losing streak
Raiders roll
It was a pretty good weekend for MSOE. The Raiders edged Buffalo State 4-3 in overtime on Friday and then beat Bethel 4-1 on Saturday.
In the win over the Bengals, four different players scored, with Jackson Yee tying the game at 3-3 late in the third to force overtime. Carson Jones then came through with the game winner to lift MSOE to its fifth win of the season.
The Raiders didn’t have as much trouble on Saturday as Jones got things rolling with a goal in the opening two minutes of action.
It was tied at 1-1 after one before MSOE took control. Preston Park put the Raiders on top for good. Austin Schwab performed well in goal, stopping 26 shots as the Raiders improved to 6-3-1 on the season and close out their November schedule on a four-game winning streak.
Green Knights earn split with Blugolds
St. Norbert is playing well right now. The Green Knights had won five of their last six heading into a weekend series with UW-Eau Claire, the No. 7 team in the nation, and they opened the series with a 2-0 win.
Part of their success is attributed to special teams play as the Green Knights killed off six power-play attempts by the Blugolds.
Dayton Deics and Liam Fraser both scored goals for St. Norbert, which improved to 7-3 win with the win. Logan Dombrowsky assisted on both goals.
Hunter Garvey was impressive between the pipes, stopping 28 shots for his second shutout of the year and helping St. Norbert improve to 4-0 at home.
Max Gutjahr stopped 26 shots for UW-Eau Claire.
Saturday’s game on the road ended with a 5-3 loss to the Blugolds.
UW-Eau Claire led 4-2 after two periods and held St. Norbert to an 0-for-7 showing on the power play. The Blugolds converted on one of their five opportunities but were outshot 29-24 overall.
Garvey made 19 saves for UW-Eau Claire. Gutjahr came through with 26 saves.
Tyler Herzberg and Trenten Heyde each tallied two goals to lead the Blugolds.
A hat trick for Welsch
Trine’s Drew Welsch came through with the seventh hat trick in program history Friday as Trine defeated SUNY Canton 6-4 Saturday in the opening round of the North County Tournament.
Welsch also added an assist to his stat line. He came through with the game-winning goal at the 18:21 mark of the third and added an empty-netter 30 seconds later to help seal the deal.
Chase McCardle, Jackson Clark and Jack Cooper also scored for the Thunder while Trey Miller made 31 saes.
Trine lost 4-0 in the finale of the tournament on Sunday. Kyle Kozma made 14 saves but only allowed two of the goals as the other two were scored in empty net situations.
Thrilling finish for Bulldogs
Adrian scored twice in the third period against Stevenson Saturday, with Bradley Somer scoring the game winner with four seconds to play as the Bulldogs held on for a 3-2 win.
Ryan Pitocia finished with two goals to pace the offense and Dershahn Stewart tallied 14 saves.
Fourth-ranked Adrian improves to 6-2-1 on the year.
Big day for Boschert
UW-Superior won its fourth in a row Saturday with a 4-1 win over Northland in WIAC play. Goaltender Jack Boschert allowed an early goal as the Yellowjackets fell behind 1-0 but he went on to make 24 saves for his fourth win of the year. He stopped a total of 49 shots in the two games against Northland.
UW-Superior is now 5-5 overall and 3-1 in the WIAC. It won by a 4-1 score on Friday against Northland as well.
