Saint John's (3-10, 2-4 MIAC) returns to action with a pair of games in Wisconsin this weekend. The Johnnies travel to face top-ranked St. Norbert (Wis.) for a 7 p.m. Friday at the Cornerstone Community Center in Green Bay, Wis. SJU then travels back west to take on Wisconsin-Stevens Point for a 7 p.m. contest Saturday evening at Ice Hawks Arena in Stevens Point, Wis. – Listen Live (Both Games) | Watch Live (St. Norbert) | Live Stats (Stevens Point) | Watch Live (Stevens Point)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: The Johnnies finally return to the ice Friday night following a 30-day layoff since their 3-2 non-conference win over Bethel on Dec. 8. SJU erased a 1-0 deficit with three goals in the second period and outshot Bethel 32-17 in the game, including a 13-3 advantage in the second frame.
Sophomore Michael Palmiscno (East Grand Forks, Minn.) tied the game 5:05 into the second, with an assist going to sophomore Joe Harren (Warroad, Minn.). Harren gave SJU a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal, his sixth goal of the season, at the 16:22 mark. Palmiscno and senior Grant Ellena (Coon Rapids, Minn.) collected the assists. Junior Conor Rooney (Stillwater, Minn.) padded the lead to 3-1 with 1:17 left in the second period. Sophomore Tobias Linbro (Nykvarn, Sweden) and senior Mike Wallgren (Oakdale, Minn.) assisted on the scoring play for SJU.
Bethel's Garret Windle cut it to 3-2 with 6:43 left in the game, but sophomore #J.D. Wells# (Coon Rapids, Minn.) held off a number of scoring chances late in the game to finish with 15 saves and earn the win in his first collegiate start.
A LOOK AT THE GREEN KNIGHTS: St. Norbert, which has been idle since Dec. 4, split a two-game series on Dec. 3-4 at St. Scholastica. The 2-1 loss snapped SNC's nine-game winning streak. Junior forward Johan Ryd leads St. Norbert in scoring with 14 points, scoring four goals and 10 assists. Senior forward Scott Pulak has three goals and 10 assists for 13 points, while senior defenseman Nick Tabisz and sophomore forward Kyle Stroh each have four goals and six assists for 10 points. Senior forward Brandon Longley has a team-high seven goals with two assists for nine points. Senior goaltender B.J. O'Brien has a 9-1 record with 1.41 GAA and .938 save percentage. SJU is 7-12 all-time against St. Norbert, though the Green Knights have won 10 of the last 11 meetings.
ONE-GOAL GAMES: The Green Knights are 4-2 in one-goal games this season, while SJU is 2-5.
THE LAST MEETING: Saint John's tied the game at 1-1 with 6:38 remaining, but No. 4 St. Norbert (Wis.) scored three goals in a 1:20 span to defeat the host Johnnies 4-1 on Jan. 9 of last year in St. Cloud. The Green Knights took a 1-0 lead halfway (11:51) thru the first period. Following a scoreless second, senior 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 sophomore 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.
A LOOK AT THE POINTERS: Stevens Point, which hosts Concordia-Moorhead Friday, is currently 5-10 overall and 3-7 in the NCHA. UWSP has lost nine of its last 10 games since starting the season 4-1. Junior forward Harrison Niemann leads the team with 10 points (4g/6a), while freshman forward Max Bobrow (4g/4a) and junior forwards Chad Boeckman (3g/5a) and Jon Madden (2g/6a) each have eight. Sophomore netminder Nick Graves is 5-7 on the year, but boasts a 2.58 GAA and a .907 save percentage. The all-time series is tied at 5-5-1.
THE LAST MEETING: Similar to this weekend, Saint John's ended its 25-day hiatus without a game and settled for a 3-3 tie against Wis.-Stevens Point on Jan. 8 in St. Cloud. The Pointers took an early 1-0 lead 4:45 into the game. The Johnnies, however, responded with three goals in a span of 2:35 to take a 3-1 first-period lead. Rooney scored his first of two goals, unassisted, at the 11:32 mark of the first period.
Karl Gilbert then tallied his ninth goal of the season 1:24 later with an assist from Wallgren. 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 the momentum swung in favor of the Pointers in the third and overtime periods (18-6). Junior Tony Civello (Shoreview, Minn.) made 29 saves in net for the Johnnies.
