Auggie Moore delivered his biggest goal of the season, carrying Saint John’s to a 3-2 win over nationally ranked Augsburg Saturday night in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Moore scored the game winner with not even a full second remaining in regulation as the Johnnies earned a split in their MIAC series with the Auggies, who came in ranked fourth in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll.
Moore skated from Saint John’s own blue line, got past two defenders and fired a shot that resulted in his 13th goal of the year and also snapped Augsburg’s 13-game winning streak.
The Johnnies, now 16-7-2 overall and 9-41 in the MIAC, took a 2-1 lead after two periods of play, getting one goal from Moore and another from Peter Tabor. Mac Berglove made 31 saves.
Tommy Carls and Austin Martinsen both scored for the Auggies, who end the regular season at 22-3 overall and 14-2 in the MIAC.
The Auggies seemed on pace for a sweep after scoring five or more goals for the fifth time this season in Friday’s 5-1 win.
Fritz Belisle helped lead the way with two goals and an assist. Kyler Yeo came through with a goal and an assist and Jack Robel made 24 saves for his 14th win.
Saints head into tourney on a roll
Saint Scholastica won its fifth consecutive game Saturday as it defeated Gustavus 6-2 to close out the regular season.
Bryce Johnson and Tyler Hinterser each scored two goals to help the Saints earn home ice for the opening round of the MIAC tournament.
Jack Bostedt stepped up in goal, making 27 saves for his 11th win of the year, the most wins for a Saints goaltender since Tyler Bruggeman won 13 games during the 2015-16 campaign.
The Saints, who are 11-9-2 overall and 7-6-1 in the MIAC, opened the series with a 2-1 win on Thursday night.
The two teams went into the final period tied at 1-1 before Nick Lanigan scored the game winner with less than eight minutes to play. It was the first goal of his career and it gave the Saints 10 wins for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
Toby Sengvongxay scored the lone goal for the Gusties, who end the year at 5-15-4.
Cobbers end with a tie
Concordia’s regular season wrapped up with a 1-1 tie against Hamline Sunday night, good enough to give it the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
Parker Simonson scored the lone goal for Concordia. Jackson Bond scored for the Pipers.
The Cobbers won their opener over the Pipers 2-1 Saturday behind a game-winning goal from Tyler Bossert, the MIAC leader in points.
Bossert scored in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie and lift the Cobbers to their 10th conference win of the season. It’s the second consecutive year the Cobbers have accomplished that feat.
The goal by Bossert was his 10th of the season. Jackson Nelson made 19 saves.
Concordia is 13-9-3 overall and 10-4-2 in the conference.
Blugolds top Lumberjacks
Willy Stauber came through in the clutch for UW-Eau Claire Saturday night.
Stauber scored the game-winning goal to lift the Blugolds past Northland in the finale of their opening-round WIAC tournament series.
Stauber scored at the 11:39 mark of the second period, and it would be the only goal of the game for the Blugolds in a 1-0 win over the Lumberjacks.
Ryan Oullette took care of the rest as he held strong in goal to earn his 14th win of the season. He secured the shutout behind an 11-save performance. The Blugolds took 32 shots.
After struggling early in the season, UW-Eau Claire (15-11-1) has been a different team in the second half of the year and came into this series riding an eight-game unbeaten streak.
It kept that momentum going in opener Friday as it dominated the Lumberjacks in an 8-1 win.
Ty Readman helped lead the way in that one, scoring a goal and dishing out three assists. Ryan Green added two goals, both coming in span of four minutes in the first period.
Jack Craycroft scored the lone goal for the Lumberjacks, who end their season with a 4-20-3 record.
UW-Eau Claire now gets UW-River Falls in the semifinal round of the Commissioner’s Cup this coming weekend.
Yellowjackets take down Blue Devils
UW Superior took its first step towards a repeat over the weekend as it swept UW-Stout on the road in its opening round series of the WIAC tournament.
The Yellowjackets capped the sweep with a 7-4 win on Saturday after edging the Blue Devils 1-0 in Friday’s opener.
The Yellowjackets jumped on top 4-0 Saturday before the Blue Devils came back strong in the second period with four goals of their own. UW-Superior scored once in the second and then added two goals in the third to put the game away.
UW-Superior held a 31-22 shot advantage and Myles Hektor stopped 18 shots as he won his 10th game.
Jordan Martin and Austin Friesen each tallied a goal an an assist while Conor MacLean dished out two assists as UW-Superior improved to 15-10-2 and advanced to the semifinal round of the Commissioner’s Cup where it will play top-seeded UW-Stevens Point.
Logan Nelson scored twice for Stout, which sees its season end with an 8-19 record.
The Yellowjackets have won their last three games and all three wins have come against the Blue Devils, including Friday’s tight win.
Reed Stark broke a scoreless tie in the third period, punching in a goal less than six minutes into the period. Stark had missed the last three games because of an injury. His goal was his ninth of the season.
Hektor finished the job en route to his fourth shutout of the season. He stopped 26 shots. Zack Cloutier made 23 saves for the Blue Devils.
Spartans headed to the semifinals
Aurora needed a little extra hockey to punch its ticket to the semifinal round of the NCHA tournament for the first time.
The Spartans saw their series against MSOE even up at one game apiece after a 7-0 loss to the Raiders Saturday but bounced back with a 2-0 win in a decisive mini game.
Matt Weber put the Spartans up 1-0 just over a minute into the action and Dylan Rauh scored an empty-net goal to finish off the win.
Aurora won the opener of the series with a 6-3 win.
Both teams were tied at 2-2 after one period of action and the Spartans took a 4-3 lead into the final period of play.
Jack Jaunich scored a goal and tallied two assists, and Adam Keyes did the same for the Spartans, who are now 19-7-1 on the season and are ranked No. 13 in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll.
Simon Boyko and Gio Procopio each came through with a goal and an assist in the series-opening victory.
MSOE rebounded Saturday with its 7-0 win that ended a five-game losing streak.
Needing a win to keep its tournament run going, the Raiders used a hat trick by Christian Saban to get it done.
Kevin Paganini tallied three assists while Nick Stofcheck notched the first shutout win of his career. He stopped 35 shots for MSOE, which ends its season with an 11-14-2 mark.
Bulldogs hold off Foresters
Make it 26 in a row for the Adrian Bulldogs. The top-ranked team in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll finished off an opening round series of the NCHA tournament with a 3-1 win over Lake Forest Saturday.
The Bulldogs, the top seed in the tourney, won the opener 2-1 Friday and are now 26-1 on the season as they move one step closer to hoisting the Harris Cup.
The Foresters end the year at 7-18-2.
Sam Ruffin scored twice and Cameron Gray made 20 saves as Adrian put away the Foresters, who did not go down without a fight.
Lake Forest pulled within 2-1 at the 14:16 mark of the third thanks to a goal by Scotty Nicholson. Adrian answered on Ruffin’s second goal of the game. Matus Spodniak also scored for the Bulldogs and Alessio Luciani came through with two assists.
In Friday’s game, both teams were scoreless after two periods of play.
Adrian got on the board first in the third thanks to a goal by Terry Ryder. It was his first goal of the year. Ty Ens made the score 2-0, punching a goal in off the power play but the Foresters answered to pull within one on the strength of a goal by Connor Sullivan.
Green Knights hold on against Sabres
The third period of St. Norbert’s NCHA tournament game against Marian was one to remember. The two teams combined for nine goals in the period, but the Green Knights still prevailed, coming away with an 8-6 win that sends them into the semifinal round.
St Norbert opened the series with a 6-1 win on Friday and was up 4-1 after two periods on Saturday before the Sabres made things interesting.
Nick Cherkowski sliced the St. Norbert lead to 5-4 at the 9:54 mark but Peter Bates answered with a breakaway goal just under a minute later to put the Green Knights back up by two.
Bates finished his night two goals and two assists, giving him 55 points on the year, the second-most in program history. Liam Fraser also scored a pair of goals and racked up two assists. Fraser’s 22 goals on the season are the most by a freshman in program history.
Michael McChesney added two goals and Brock Baker tallied a goal and two assists.
The Green Knights outshot Marian 44-34. Colby Entz racked up 28 saves and Colby Muise made 36 saves.
The two teams combined for five power-play goals, including three by St. Norbert, which improved to 22-5 on the year.
Marian ends the year at 10-14-3 and sees its bid to repeat as NCHA tourney champs come to an end. Mason Richey scored a goal and also dished out an assist, as did Blake Kleiner,while Jack Sampson dished out two assists.
Ranked seventh in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll, St. Norbert opened the weekend with its 39th consecutive win in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
Fraser ended his night with four points, scoring twice and tallying two assists, while Bates and Peyton Frantti came through with a goal and two assists apiece. Jordan Strand added two assists.
Thunder edge Vikings to advance
Trine didn’t let the pressure of the moment faze it. Rather, the Thunder responded and rallied for a 3-2 win in overtime over Lawrence Saturday to move on in the NCHA tournament. Trine had an easier time on Friday, earning a 4-1 win.
In Saturday’s thriller, the Thunder fell behind 2-0 as Lawrence got goals from Zack Olen and Kyle Gierman. Thad Marcola, though, would help the Thunder rally. He scored Trine’s first goal of the game and then punched in the game-winning goal less than four minutes into the OT period.
A goal by Drew Welsch amid a mad scramble for the puck tied the score at 2-2 with eight seconds remaining and helped the Thunder force an extra period of hockey.
Brian Tallieu made 43 saves for the Vikings, who battled tough throughout before seeing their season end at 10-13-4.
Shane Brancato and Elias Sandholm combined for 21 saves for Trine, which improves to 19-8.
Trine scored the first three goals of Friday’s game to build an early lead. The final goal of the night for the Thunder was an empty-netter from Jackson Clark. Brendan Pappas had a multi-point night as he dished out two assists.
