Saint John's plays host to Bethel for Senior Night this Thursday, Feb. 16. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The Johnnies then travel to face the Royals for a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Feb. 17, at the National Sports Center in Blaine. – Listen Live (Both Games) | Live Stats (Friday) | Live Stats/Live Video (Saturday)
Preview Video:
-Head coach Doug Schueller (2:16)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (10-11-2, 8-6 MIAC) split last weekend's series with St. Olaf, earning a 6-3 win on the road Friday night before suffering a 2-1 loss Saturday. The Johnnies jumped out to a 3-0 lead and added three unanswered goals to earn the win, the seventh in their last eight games, Friday in Northfield. Twelve different players tallied a point for SJU. Freshman Wally Cossette (Maple Grove, Minn.) put SJU on the scoreboard with his fourth goal of the year 5:36 into the game, with an assist going to classmate John Carroll (Eagan, Minn.). Junior Tobias Linbro (Nykvarn, Sweden) extended the lead to 2-0 with his second goal of the season, on a pass from Cossette and junior Michael Palmiscno (East Grand Forks, Minn.), with 4:46 left in the opening frame. Junior Joe Harren (Warroad, Minn.) made it 3-0 in favor of the Johnnies 6:44 into the second period. The tally was assisted by Linbro and Palmiscno. Brian Hickey erased the shutout for St. Olaf at the 15:00 mark of the second, and Ross Trousdale cut it to 3-2 with only 45 seconds expired in the third period. Jeff Harris tied it at 3-3 with a power-play goal 3:29 into the third. Junior Jascha Pettit (Wadena, Minn.) broke the tie with his team-leading 10th goal of the season, what proved to be the game-winning tally, 4:02 later. Senior Conor Rooney (Stillwater, Minn.) and freshman Nick Vatnsdal (Independence, Minn.) assisted on the scoring play. Freshman Josh Gaughan (Buffalo, Minn.) padded the Johnnies' lead with his eighth goal of the year with 1:45 remaining, on an assist from freshman John Haeg (Lakeville, Minn.). Sophomore Justin Hochsprung (Alexandria, Minn.) ended the scoring with an empty-net goal with nine seconds left. Linbro and sophomore Axel Ramsgard (Gothenburg, Sweden) collected the assists. Junior J.D. Wells (Anoka, Minn.) made 21 saves to remain undefeated with a 6-0 record between the pipes this season. Ben Leis made 16 stops for the Oles in the loss. Leis entered the game second in the conference (MIAC games only) in save percentage (.932) and third in GAA (2.08).
Harren tied Saturday night's contest at 1-1 with his seventh goal of the season 12:34 into the third period. The Oles regained the lead 10 seconds into a power play at the 14:45 mark of the final period. Wells made 22 saves in the loss, his first of the season. The Johnnies outshot St. Olaf 30-24 in the game and held a 39-22 advantage on faceoffs. SJU, however, was 0-for-4 on the power play (0-for-7 on the weekend). Eight of the Johnnies' last 10 losses to the Oles have been decided by one goal.
POSTSEASON SITUATION: Saint John's needs one point in either of the two games against Bethel this week to earn a trip to the five-team MIAC Playoffs. St. Thomas has already clinched the regular-season title and top spot in the MIAC Playoffs. The Johnnies would be guaranteed at least third place/No. 3 seed with a win in either of the two games against the Royals. The first tie-breaker is head-to-head record. The second is total number of MIAC wins. SJU, therefore, wins the tie-breaker over both Gustavus and St. Olaf as long as the Johnnies win at least one game vs. Bethel and the Gusties and Oles split their home-and-home series this weekend.
-Playoff Berth: with either an SJU tie or win, in either of the two games vs. Bethel; or either a tie or loss by Concordia in its weekend series at home vs. Saint Mary's; or a sweep by one of the schools in the Gustavus/St. Olaf series
-Second Place/No. 2 Seed: with two SJU wins against Bethel; or one SJU win and a Gustavus/St. Olaf split; or one SJU tie and a pair of ties in the Gustavus/St. Olaf series
-Third Place/No. 3 Seed: with one SJU win against Bethel
-Four-Way Tie With 16 Points: in the case of a four-way tie between SJU, Bethel, Concordia-Moorhead and Gustavus/St. Olaf (depending on who would get swept), the Cobbers would be the odd team out with only six wins (a win and tie gives them 16 points)
-Miss Playoffs: the only scenario for SJU to miss the MIAC Playoffs is if Bethel sweeps the Johnnies and Concordia sweeps Saint Mary's; the Johnnies, however, win the tie-breaker vs. Concordia if the situation occurs (due to a sweep of the Cobbers earlier this season)
A LOOK AT THE ROYALS: Bethel (7-14-2, 5-7-2 MIAC) ended a six-game winless streak (0-4-2) with three first-period goals en route to a 5-3 victory over Augsburg Feb. 11. Augsburg tied the game at three apiece in the second frame, but Bethel tallied two goals in the first two minutes of the third period to put the game away. Jimmie Perkins gave the Royals an early 1-0 lead just 34 seconds into the opening frame. Nine different BU players collected points in the matchup. Jake Kogler scored the game-winning goal in the third period. Seniors Chris Fiala (6g/15a) and Jake Kogler (13g/8a) lead the team with 21 points apiece, while junior Jack Paul boasts 18 points (11g/7a) on the year. Freshman Robby Brown and sophomore Dan Harper, a transfer from St. Thomas, have combined for a 3.75 GAA and a .886 save percentage this season. BU allows a MIAC-worst 3.78 goals per game and leads the league with 16.8 penalty minutes per game. Bethel is just 7-for-66 (10.6 percent) on the power play in conference games. The Royals need three points against the Johnnies in order to reach the MIAC playoffs.
LAST YEAR'S MEETINGS: Saint John's split the MIAC series with Bethel and earned a 3-2 victory in non-conference play last season. The Johnnies controlled much of the first game of the MIAC weekend series (4-3 loss) except for the scoreboard, boasting a 45-26 shot advantage, including an 18-5 barrage in the third period, and a 50-27 edge in faceoffs. Both teams, however, combined for 1-for-15 on the power play. SJU was 0-for-7. Bethel scored four consecutive goals to erase a two-goal deficit. Grant Ellena '11 and Mike Wallgren '11 each scored in the first period to give the Johnnies an early 2-0 lead. Irey cut the deficit to 2-1 6:35 into the second frame and Fiala tied the contest at 2-2 with a power-play goal three minutes later. Josh Simi gave the Royals its first lead of the game at the 16:36 mark of the second period. Mason Swenson scored what proved to be the game-winner, shorthanded, 3:47 into the third period. The Johnnies had a 5-on-3 power play, but a turnover at the blueline, coupled with Jake Calleja exiting the penalty box, created a 2-on-1 breakaway. Sophomore Trent Johnson (Duluth, Minn.) ended the scoring with his first collegiate goal to cut the deficit to one.
The Johnnies snapped their string of four one-goal losses with a convincing 4-1 win the following night in Blaine. The two teams combined for 0-for-14 on the power play (1-for-29 on the series) thanks to a total of 34 penalties for 93 minutes. Harren followed his two-assist game last night with a pair of goals Friday, including the game's first tally, unassisted, 6:14 into the game. Bethel tied the game at 1-1 three minutes later, but Rooney gave the lead back to SJU for good 18 seconds later. Harren put the game away with an athletic goal at the 14:21 mark of the third period. Harren flew up the left wing, slipped the puck past a sliding defenseman while jumping over him, and then shot the puck past Zac Bush upon landing back to the ice. SJU again outshot Bethel, this time 40-26 to finish with an 85-52 advantage in the series. Senior Tony Civello (Shoreview, Minn.) made 25 saves in net.
SJU erased a 1-0 deficit with three goals in the second period to defeat Bethel 3-2 in a non-conference in St. Cloud. The Johnnies outshot Bethel 32-17 in the game, including a 13-3 advantage in the second frame. Josh Simi gave the Royals a 1-0 lead with 2:45 left in the first period. Palmiscno tied the game 5:05 into the second and Harren gave SJU a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at the 16:22 mark. Rooney padded the lead to 3-1 with 1:17 left in the second period. Bethel's Garret Windle cut it to 3-2 with 6:43 left in the game, but Wells 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.
SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 35-20-8 all-time against Bethel since the 1984-85 season, including a 6-3-4 record in their last 13 games at the National Hockey Center. Two of the three losses were decided by one goal, while the other was a 3-1 decision thanks to a late empty-net goal.
