The Johnnie hockey team returns to action this Friday and Sunday, Jan. 22 and 24, against Gustavus Adolphus. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Lund Arena in St. Peter and at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul as part of the Minnesota Wild Skills Competition. Advanced tickets may be purchased for $10 at all Ticketmaster locations or for $15 at the Xcel Energy Center Box Office on Jan. 24. – Listen Live (Both Games) | Watch Live (Both Games) | Live Stats (Sunday) | Minnesota Wild Skills Competition

Preview Video:
-Head Coach Doug Schueller (3:07)

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (5-8-2, 1-5-0 MIAC) returns to action this weekend for the first time in two weeks. SJU tied Wis.-Stevens Point 3-3 on Jan. 8, before falling to No. 4 St. Norbert (Wis.) 4-1 on Jan. 9. Both games were held at the Municipal Athletic Complex (MAC) in St. Cloud. The Johnnies' 3-3 tie against Wis.-Stevens Point was their first contest in 25 days (Dec. 13). After the Pointers took an early 1-0 lead, SJU responded with three goals in a span of 2:35 to take a 3-1 first-period lead. Sophomore Conor Rooney (Stillwater, Minn.) scored his first of two goals, unassisted, at the 11:32 mark of the first period. Senior Karl Gilbert (Hermantown, Minn.) then tallied his ninth goal of the season 1:24 later with an assist from junior Mike Wallgren (Oakdale, Minn.). Rooney lit the lamp 1:11 after that with an assist going to senior Chris Murray (Chanhassen, Minn.). UWSP answered with two goals to tie the game, one in each of the next two periods. SJU out-shot the Pointers 36-32 and held a 42-30 advantage in faceoffs. The Johnnies held a 30-14 advantage in shots on goal thru the first two periods before that momentum swung in favor of the Pointers in the third and overtime periods (18-6). Sophomore Tony Civello (Shoreview, Minn.) made 29 saves in net for the Johnnies.

The following afternoon, SJU tied St. Norbert at 1-1 with 6:38 remaining, but the Green Knights scored three goals in a 1:20 span to earn the victory. SNC took a 1-0 lead halfway (11:51) thru the first period. Following a scoreless second, junior forward Alex Lindeberg (Forest Lake, Minn.) tallied a power-play goal to tie it up at 1-1. Sophomore defenseman Corey Kosak (Grand Rapids, Minn.) and freshman netminder Adam Andersson (Pixbo, Sweden) recorded their first career points with assists on the play. Andersson's assist was the first by an SJU goaltender since Nov. 30, 2007, at St. Olaf (Vince Wheeler). St. Norbert broke the tie with its first of three consecutive goals 2:16 later. Andersson made 33 saves in the loss as the Green Knights outshot SJU 37-20 in the game. The Johnnies held a 43-29 advantage on faceoffs.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (12-4-1, 6-1-1 MIAC) enters this weekend having won nine of its last 10 games, including an important sweep (6-2, 3-2) of Augsburg last weekend. Senior David Martinson is third in the country in goals per game (0.94) and leads the squad with 28 points (16g/12a), followed by sophomore Ross Ring-Jarvi with 22 (6g/16a). Junior Josh Swartout is currently 10-2-1 with a 2.28 GAA and a .906 save percentage. Much to the chagrin of the team's overall record, the Johnnies are 39th with a combined special teams percentage of .503 (83-165), while Gustavus is 40th at 50.0 percent (94-188).  Dating back to the 1984-1985 season (60 previous meetings), SJU leads the series with a 36-19-5 record. The Johnnies have either defeated or tied GAC in 30 of the last 34 meetings (27-4-3 record).

LAST SEASON'S SERIES: Saint John's and Gustavus Adolphus split last season's series each winning on its home rink. Gustavus scored three unanswered goals in the third period to pull away from the visiting Johnnies 5-1 on Jan. 30. After a scoreless first period, the Gusties scored to take a 1-0 lead. The Johnnies responded quickly with a goal tying the game at 1-1. Gustavus answered just 17 seconds later to take back the lead 2-1. Johnnie goaltender Vince Wheeler made 20 saves for SJU as the Johnnies outshot Gustavus 31-25 in the game.

Johnnie forward Pat Connelly scored two third-period goals to lead Saint John's to a 2-1 win over Gustavus on Jan. 31. With the goalie pulled, Martinson scored his 24th goal of the season with 1:07 left in the game to end SJU goaltender Vince Wheeler's shutout. Both teams combined for 0 of 13 on the power-play.