Don’t look now but Dubuque has made program history in college hockey.
The first-year Spartans came through with their first series sweep, beating Lake Forest 3-2 and 3-1.
In Saturday’s game, Max Messier gave the Spartans the lead with his fourth goal of the year at the 15:37 mark of the second period. A few minutes earlier, James Eng had tied the game at 1-1.
Ethan Lang finished off the scoring for Dubuque, which took 23 shots while Chris Curr made 28 saves for his third win of the year. He stopped 10 of those shots in the third period.
Friday’s win was the first for the Spartans (3-17-2, 3-13) since Jan. 13 when it beat Concordia 3-0. They had lost five in a row before Josh King struck for a pair of goals to help Dubuque end the losing streak. It’s the first time all year King has scored two goals in a game.
All three of Dubuque’s wins this season have come on the road.
Green Knights still in title hunt
St. Norbert kept itself in contention for at least a share of the regular season NCHA championship by rolling past No. 2 Adrian 6-2 Saturday.
The Green Knights dropped the opener 4-1 but jumped ahead 3-0 in the finale and rolled from there. They are five points behind the Bulldogs in the standings (41-36) and can clinch a share of the crown if it sweeps Dubuque next week and Trine takes five points from Adrian next weekend.
Liam Fraser continued his impressive season by scoring a pair of goals and dishing out two assists. He now has 14 goals and 14 assists on the year. Baker Brock added a goal and two assists.
St. Norbert led 4-0 before the Bulldogs finally scored off goals from Jacob Suede and Zachary Heintz.
The Green Knights have won six of of their last seven, scoring four or more goals four times, and are 16-6 overall and 13-3 in conference play.
Adrian won the opener while handing St. Norbert its first home loss of the season. Matt Rehding helped lead the way, scoring twice off power play goals.
Dershawn Stewart made 33 stops for the Bulldogs (17-5-1, 14-2), who face Trine next weekend with a chance to clinch the NCHA title outright.
Vikings split with nationally ranked Trine
Kyle Gierman and Jayden Jensen each tallied a goal and an assist to help Lawrence notch its first win over a ranked team since December of 2021.
The Vikings topped No. 9 Trine 4-2, scoring three goals in the third period to knock off the Thunder. Nolan Mahaffey, only a freshman, made 36 saves against Trine. Gierman’s goal at the 10:36 mark of the third gave Lawrence the lead for good at 3-2.
Lawrence nearly pulled off a sweep Saturday but lost 3-2 in overtime as Trine’s Sam Antenucci scored off the power play a little over two minutes into overtime.
Jack Michels gave Lawrence (7-15-1, 3-10-1) an early lead but a pair of power play goals by Matteo Ybarra put the Thunder (18-5, 13-3) in front 2-1. Robby Pustulka tie the game at 2-2.
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Concordia (8-15, 5-9) snapped a four-game losing streak Friday with a 6-5 overtime win against Marian. Collin Kerchoff punched in the game winner while Mi-Kwan Tallman, who scored twice for the first multi-goal game of his career. Marian (9-14, 3-11) won Saturday’s game 4-0 to salvage a split.
Cole Beilke dished out three assists and Gramm McCormack scored twice as MSOE (12-9-2, 6-9-1) topped Aurora 5-1. The Spartans (12-10-1, 11-5) bounced back with a 5-3 win Saturday thanks to two goals from Riley Dekowny.
MIAC
Big weekend for Bethel
The Royals remain atop the MIAC standings after sweeping No. 10 St. Scholastica. Bethel won Saturday’s finale by a 2-1 score in overtime thanks to a game-winning goal from Tyler Kostelecky, who scored with just over a minute left in OT.
Bethel has won three in a row, all by one goal, and is now 15-5-3 overall and 9-3-2 in the MIAC. The Royals have five more wins than they had a season ago when they ended the 2022-23 campaign with a five-game losing streak.
Bethel prevailed 4-3 in Friday’s game, with four different players scoring goals. Austin Ryman made 22 saves.
St. Scholastica has just two wins in its last seven games and is 14-6-1 overall and 7-4-1 in the conference. In Friday’s game, the Saints trailed 4-0 before scoring three goals during a comeback attempt.
Good weekend for the Auggies
Augsburg topped Concordia 4-0 on Friday and then won a shootout after playing the Cobbers to a 2-2 tie on Saturday, running its unbeaten streak to three games.
Though the Auggies were outshot 37-35 on Saturday, the sixth game in a row where that’s happened, they managed to get another strong effort from Samuel Vyletelka, who stopped 35 shots, the 15th game of the season where he’s recorded 30 or more saves.
Peyton Hanson tallied Augsburg’s shootout goal. Vyletelka made two saves in the shootout as Augsburg improved to 11-8-2 overall and 8-3-1 in the MIAC. Concordia dropped to 10-8-3 overall an 5-5-2 in the conference.
Vyletelka was even better on Friday night, making 40 saves, the second time he’s tallied at least 40 in a game this season while recording his second shutout of the year as well. Michael Ferrandino scored a goal and dished out an assist.
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Gustavus capped its weekend with a 5-2 win over Hamline after the Pipers prevailed 3-1 on Friday. The Gusties snapped a seven-game losing streak that included three one-goal losses
Jackson Hjelle made 36 saves and Marc Fletemeyer scored twice for Gustavus (8-11-2, 3-8-1). Connor Mahony also scored, pushing his total to seven, tying him for the team lead.
Hamline (7-12-2, 3-8-1) ended a four-game winless streak with Friday’s win, scoring three unanswered goals over the final two periods while Maximillian Haselbacher stopped 35 shots.
Saint John’s (9-10-4, 6-7-1) scored two first-period goals and went on to top Saint Mary’s (7-12-2, 5-6-1) 4-2 Saturday. Jon Howe made 26 saves for his sixth win. Conner Couet score his first collegiate goal.
WIAC
No. 8 UW-Stevens rallied both nights against a relentless Northland team to earn a sweep and remain in first place in the WIAC standings.
The Pointers (17-5-1, 11-2) won 4-3 Saturday thanks to a third period goal from Nicholas Aromatario at the 7:29 mark of the period. Ryan Maguire tallied 23 saves while Northland goaltender Viktor Wennberg was tough as nails as he racked up 54 saves.
The two teams were tied at 1-1 after one and 3-3 after two before the Pointers took control for their third win in a row.
Fletcher Anderson scored the game winner Friday in a 2-1 win. All three games against Northland have been decided by a goal.
Falcons tie Blugolds
UW-River Falls finished out its weekend strong, tying No. 14 UW-Eau Claire at 2-2 before winning the shootout.
All four goals in the game were scored in the second period. Owen Belisle and Gibb Coady both scored for the Falcons in regulation and Arsenii Smekhnov and Sam Anzai tallied shootout goals for UW-River Falls (12-9-2, 4-7-2), who also got a 30-save effort from Dysen Skinner.
The Blugolds (15-6-2, 9-3-1) dominated the opener on Friday 6-0 as Max Gutjahr notched his third straight shutout win while Tyler Herzberg led the offense with a pair of goals.
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UW-Stout bounced back on Saturday with a 1-0 win over UW-Superior, which had won the series opener 4-1.
Tyler Masternak racked up 32 saves and Peyton Hart scored the lone goal as the Blue Devils (9-12-2, 7-6) salvaged a split in the series.
Boyd Stahlbaum and Jake McAlpine assisted on Hart’s goal. Stahlbaum leads the league in points (29) and his assist total (16) ranks third in the conference.
The Yellowjackets (11-11-1, 6-6-1) put an end to five-game winless streak Friday, recording its highest goal total since a 5-2 win over Gustavus on Jan. 12.
Tristan Therrien tallied a goal and assist while Collin Perderson scored his first goal in 31 games as the Yellowjackets won their fourth consecutive against UW-Stout. UW-Superior also forced UW-Stout to go 0-for-5 on the power play.
