Box Score | Photos (John Biasi)

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's outplayed Bethel in nearly every statistical category except for the scoreboard as the visiting Royals handed the Johnnies their fifth one-goal loss of the season, 4-3, on Thursday, Nov. 20 in St. Cloud.

SJU outshot the Royals 37-23 and won the faceoff battle 48-27 in the game. Thirteen of the Johnnies' last 17 losses have now been by one goal.

Bethel jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals 1:41 apart in the first period by Kyle Dynan and Spencer Menk.

Junior forward Dylan Decker (Park City, Utah) cut the deficit to 2-1 with his first goal of the season on the power play 11:27 into the first period. Senior defenseman Lance Wheeler (Clearwater, Minn.) and senior forward Clayton Rehm (Park Rapids, Minn.) assisted on the scoring play for SJU.

The Johnnies tied the game at 2-2 with another power-play goal, this time from senior forward Jake Hipp (Bismarck, N.D.) 3:36 into the second frame. Sophomore defenseman Brent Brodersen (Shakopee, Minn.) tallied an assist on the play.

The Royals answered, however, 37 seconds later on a goal from Eric Adams to take a 3-2 lead. Chris Fiala added a power-play goal at the 10:57 mark of the second period to increase the Royals' lead to 4-2, before senior forward Brian Baker (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) netted SJU's third power-play goal of the game with five minutes to play in the second. Brodersen and Hipp combined on the assists for the Johnnies.

Senior goaltender Vince Wheeler (Clearwater, Minn.) made 19 saves for SJU, while Bethel's Adam Damjanovich made 34 stops for the Royals (4-2-1, 1-2-0 MIAC).

The Johnnies were three of eight on the power play, while Bethel converted two of its eight power-play opportunities.

SJU (1-6, 0-3 MIAC) travels to face the Royals for a 7:30 p.m. faceoff Friday, Nov. 21 at the National Sports Center in Blaine.