Saint John's is set to host Hamline for a 7 p.m. game tonight at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The Johnnies then travel to face the Pipers for a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, Jan. 27, at the Vadnais Heights Sports Center. – Listen Live (Thursday) | Live Stats (Friday)
Preview Video:
-Head coach Doug Schueller (1:51)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's completed a weekend sweep of second-place Concordia-Moorhead with a 4-1 victory Jan. 22 in St. Cloud. SJU (6-9-2, 4-4-0 MIAC) broke through a scoreless tie with a pair of goals in the second period. Sophomore Josh Gross (Maple Grove, Minn.) gave SJU a 1-0 lead with 4:41 left, with assists going to freshmen Josh Gaughan (Buffalo, Minn.) and Nick Senta (Savage, Minn.). The goal was scored during a delayed penalty, a five-minute major for checking from behind. A broken pane of Plexiglass gave both teams a 20-minute break with 3:19 left. The delay failed to cool the Johnnies, as junior Joe Harren (Warroad, Minn.) extended the Johnnies' lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at the 19:04 mark. Harren added his second of the game, and fifth of the season, 5:44 into the third period. Juniors Tobias Linbro (Nykvarn, Sweden) and Michael Palmiscno (East Grand Forks, Minn.) earned the assists. Marc Harrie broke the shutout for Concordia with 1:08 left in the game. Freshman John Haeg (Lakeville, Minn.) ended the scoring with his fourth goal of the season 27 seconds later, with assists going to Gaughan and Gross. Junior J.D. Wells (Anoka, Minn.) made 23 saves to improve to 3-0 on the season. Concordia managed to register only four shots on goal in 11:39 on the power play (0-for-7), including 42 seconds with a 5-on-3 advantage.
GOALS AGAINST #2: The Johnnies' offense flourished against the second-ranked goaltender in each of the past two weekends. SJU scored seven goals on Gustavus' John McLean, who entered the Jan. 13-14 series second in the MIAC in both GAA (1.90) and save percentage (.935), in the series split. The Johnnies followed that with six goals against a stingy Concordia defense last weekend, including four goals on the Cobbers' Chris Neamonitis, who entered Saturday's game second in the conference in both GAA (2.07) and save percentage (.936). Hamline's goaltenders, Beau Christian and Matt Hemingway, have combined for a 3.46 GAA and a .889 save percentage this season.
QUITE A LINE: SJU's line of Gaughan, Gross and Haeg has produced 20 (8g/12a) of the Johnnies' 38 points in the last five games. Haeg's 19 points (4g/15a) are the most by a SJU freshman since Jake Hipp (2005-09) tallied 19 (9g/10a) during the 2005-06 season. As a team, the Johnnies have scored 51 goals in 17 games and boast the MIAC's top power play at 21.5 percent (14-for-65). SJU scored 57 goals in 25 games last season, including a 13.3-percent output on the power play (14-for-105).
SPECIAL TEAMS: SJU currently boasts the MIAC's top combined special teams (power play + penalty kill) at 56.7 percent (conference games only). The Johnnies lead the league on the power play (21.5 percent, 14-for-65), including 29.0 percent (9-for-31) in eight MIAC games. The Pipers, meanwhile, are last in the MIAC with a combined special teams of 43.0 percent (41.0 percent in conference play).
A LOOK AT THE PIPERS: Hamline took advantage of its power plays in the 3-0 shutout of Augsburg last Saturday. After a scoreless opening period, Brian Arrigoni knocked home his league-leading 12th of the season on the power play 32 seconds into the second. Stowers made it 2-0 with a power-play goal of his own at the 13:54 mark. Jordan VanGilder sealed the deal with his seventh of the year early in the third. Christian recorded 35 saves for his seventh career shutout. He had 41 saves in the 2-2 tie Friday night. Van Gilder enters this week's series in a tie for the conference lead in points with 22 (8g/14a), one more than Arrigoni (12g/9a). The two have combined for 21 points (7g/14a) on the power play this season.
LAST SEASON: Saint John's snapped the Pipers' 11-game unbeaten streak and handed them their first MIAC loss with a 3-1 win in the first meeting last season. Senior Tony Civello (Shoreview, Minn.) had a spectacular game in net, stopping 40 of the 41 shots he faced, including 13 saves on the power play. The Johnnies' power-play crew, meanwhile, was 2-for-5 against the MIAC's (conference games only) top penalty kill (88.0 percent, 44-50). Hamline found the scoreboard first on a goal from Ryan Kupperman 9:20 into the game. SJU, however, scored three unanswered goals to claim the win.
In the second meeting with Hamline, Saint John's erased a three-goal deficit with a trio of goals in the third period to tie the Pipers, 3-3. Kyle Mattson and Jordan VanGilder gave the Pipers an early 2-0 lead in the first period, before Ryan Kupperman added a power-play goal in the second. The third period; however, belonged to SJU, which outshot the Pipers 17-4 in the final period of regulation. Linbro erased the shutout with a pretty wrister over the glove of Hamline's Matt Hemingway 7:57 into the third. Sophomore Trent Johnson (Duluth, Minn.) cut the deficit to one with a power-play goal at the 16:30 mark. Forty-five seconds later, classmate Joe Harren (Warroad, Minn.) walked in on net and beat Hemingway glove-side to tie the game at 3-3. The Pipers held a slim 40-39 edge in shots on goal, including a 6-0 advantage in overtime. SJU killed off a power play in the final 55 seconds of the game.
SERIES HISTORY: Saint John's is just 3-8-1 against the Pipers since the 2006-07 season, including seven losses in the last 10 meetings. The friendly confines have been kind to SJU, however, as the Johnnies are 11-4-3 in their last 18 games vs. the Pipers at the National Hockey Center, though HU is 3-0-1 in the last four. Three of SJU's four losses during that stretch were decided by one goal.
