West wrap: Jan. 14

Saint Scholastica is in the midst of a special season. The Saints trailed by a goal entering the final period of play against the Milwaukee School of Engineering Saturday night, but managed to escape with a 3-2 victory. It’s the third time this year that the Saints have won a game after trailing going into the third period, the most wins since the 2011-12 campaign.

The win also pushes the Saints’ win streak to eight games. Their unbeaten streak is nine. Saint Scholastica is 11-5-1 overall and 4-4-1 in the NCHA.

Jordan Fralich played a key role, scoring a goal and dishing out an assist. His goal came off the power play. It’s the eighth consecutive game in which the Saints have scored a power-play goal.

Nick Trenciansky was impressive as well. The goalie made 19 saves and is now 5-1. He also got credit for an assist on Fralich’s goal. It’s the third assist this season for Trenciansky.

Saint Scholastica opened the weekend with a 3-2 win over Concordia and will look to keep its streak alive next weekend when it plays host to Finlandia and St. Norbert.

Auggies make a statement
Down by a goal, Augsburg rallied for a 2-1 win over No. 3 Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Lukas Gillett and Matt Nehls both scored for Augsburg, which should have a chance to jump back into the top 15 this week after being as high as No. 3 earlier this year.

The goal by Gillett was his fifth of the year. Nick Schmit managed to make 26 saves to notch his 11th victory of the season.

Augsburg completed the weekend with a 6-2 win over Wisconsin-Stout. It’s the fourth consecutive win for the Auggies and their 12th overall. Gillett and Luke Dietsch scored two goals apiece in the victory. It’s the seventh time this season Augsburg has scored at least five goals in a game.

Blugolds bounce back
Wisconsin-Eau Claire leaped back into the win column Saturday with a 4-2 win over St. Olaf. The Blugolds scored three times in the third period and held a 36-15 advantage in shots in the game to nail down the victory.

On the heels of an overtime loss to St. John’s Thursday, Wis.-Eau Claire was hungry for a win and got it behind a balanced attack. Four different players scored, with Tyler Tomberlin tallying a goal and an assist. Nathan Dingmann came through with two assists. The Blugolds improved to 3-5 on the road this season.

Green Knights explode offensively
Top-ranked St. Norbert scored a season-best seven goals in a 7-2 win over Marian Friday night. The Green Knights scored three times off the power play to cool off a Sabres team that had won nine of its last 11 games. They improve to 14-1 overall and to 9-0 in the NCHA.

Timmy Nicksic scored a goal and also dished out two assists. Luke Davison came through with two assists as well, while Keegan Milligan tallied a goal and an assist. Hunter Vorva got the job done in goal, making 27 saves.

Cardinals manage split with Cobbers
Saint Mary’s suffered a 5-4 overtime loss to Concordia Friday night, but the storyline was different for the Cardinals Saturday as they scored four unanswered goals to earn a 5-3 victory. It’s only the fourth win of the season for Saint Mary’s, which entered the game winless in its last five outings.

Kevin Walz and Chad Cesarz both scored a goal, and both players dished out two assists as well as the Cardinals came out of the weekend with a split in their MIAC series with Concordia.

Kyle Meeh chipped in a goal as well. It’s the second consecutive game in which he has scored. Aaron Davis earned the win in goal. He stopped 32 shots for his third win of the year.

Pipers are on a roll
Hamline completed a perfect weekend as it knocked off Wisconsin-Superior 4-2 Saturday at TRIA Rink. The Pipers are 5-9-1 overall. Their win was fueled by a phenomenal effort in which they killed off 11 power-play opportunities by the Yellow Jackets.

Evan Robert recorded 25 saves, including 11 in the third period, to help the Pipers put away the Yellow Jackets. He is 2-2 on the season.

Jaycob McCombs paced the offense with a pair of goals.

Big night for Balsamo
Dino Balsamo recorded a career-best four points to help the fourth-ranked Adrian Bulldogs knock off Aurora, 6-1, Saturday afternoon.

Balsamo scored two points and also dished out two assists as the Bulldogs improved to 13-4 overall and 9-1 in the NCHA. The sophomore forward has six goals and 10 assists this season.

Adrian is 5-0 all-time against Aurora and has outscored the Spartans 40-6 during that stretch. The Bulldogs have now won five consecutive games and are outscoring the opposition 21-5 during their season-best five-game win streak.