Saint John's hockey returns to conference action at No. 15 Gustavus Adolphus at 8:05 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, at Lund Arena in St. Peter. The Johnnies then host GAC for a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. – Listen Live (WBHR-660, Both Games) | Live Stats (Friday) | Live Video (Friday) | Live Stats (Saturday) | Live Video (Saturday)
Preview Video:
-Head coach Doug Schueller (1:55)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-6, 5-3 MIAC) returns to MIAC competition riding a six-game win streak following its 4-3 non-conference win at Wisconsin-Stout Jan. 25. The Johnnies broke a 1-1 tie with three goals in the first 8:06 of the second period and held on the win, despite playing with 17 skaters, down from the normal 18, due to sickness. Senior forward Justin Hochsprung (Alexandria, Minn.) gave SJU a 1-0 lead 18 seconds into a power play, 5:15 into the opening period, with assists going to junior forward John Haeg (Lakeville, Minn.) and junior defenseman Nick Senta (Savage, Minn.). Joey Haydock tied it for Stout with 9:52 left in the first period before the Johnnies unleashed a scoring frenzy to start the second frame. Sophomore defenseman Joe Freemark (Lakeville, Minn.) gave the lead back to SJU, 2-1, with his second goal of the season 1:10 into the second period. Senior forward Jason Johnson (Duluth, Minn.) padded the Johnnies' lead with his 15th collegiate goal 3:46 later. Haeg extended the lead to three 8:06 into the second period, his third goal of the season, with assists going to Jason Johnson and McNamara. The goal chased Stout goaltender Corey Koop from the game. Chase Hollander made his first collegiate appearance and denied all 21 SJU shots in the final 31:20. Zach Vierling cut the Blue Devils' deficit to two goals 5:10 into the third period and Logan Maly made it 4-3 with 6:39 remaining. Senior Mitch Thompson (Onalaska, Minn.) made 17 saves to earn his second collegiate victory in his first appearance/start since Dec. 12 against Wisconsin-River Falls.
SECOND IN THE COUNTRY: SJU is second in out of 72 teams in Division III (through Jan. 27) with a combined-special-teams percentage of .573 (82-for-143): No. 8 penalty kill (.908, 69-for-76) and No. 31 power play (.194, 13-for-67). The Johnnies are 7-0 this season against teams that are currently in the top 20 in combined special teams: No. 1 St. Scholastica (.589, Dec. 13); No. 3 Concordia-Moorhead (.572, Jan. 18-19); No. 8 Wisconsin-Stout (.560, Jan. 10 and Jan. 25), No. 16 Marian (.541, Jan. 11) and No. 17 Wisconsin-Superior (.537, Nov. 8).
PK STILL GOING STRONG: The Johnnies have successfully denied each of their opponents' last 33 power-play opportunities since Carl Krieger's power-play goal in the first period of SJU's 3-1 loss at Augsburg Dec. 6.
HAEG vs. STOUT: Haeg tallied three points (1g/2a), including what proved to be the game-winning goal (his third of the season), in the Johnnies' 4-3 win at Stout on Saturday. He now has nine points (2g/7a) in four career games (3-0-1 record) against Stout and a point in each of his last six games overall for a total of 10 (3g/7a).
A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (11-4-3, 8-1-1 MIAC) enters this weekend's series with a four-game MIAC win streak against Augsburg (3-1, 4-2) and Saint Mary's (4-1, 5-1). Senior Corey Leivermann, a transfer from Division I MSU-Mankato, leads the team in all three offensive categories: goals (11), assists (9) and points (20). Senior Adam Smyth is second with 16 points, while senior Gustav Bengston and Tyler Lapic, a transfer from Division I Wisconsin, are both tied for third with 12. The four have combined for 21 points (8g/13a) over the last four games. Sophomore John McLean, at 6-foot-8, is 10-3-3 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.14 GAA in net this season. The Gusties are currently last in the MIAC (all games) with a 10.7-percent (9-for-84) conversion rate on the power play, mostly due to a 3-for-39 performance (7.7 percent) in eight non-conference games. GAC is 2-for-18 (11.1 percent) on the man advantage in its last three games.
LAST YEAR'S GAMES: SJU went 1-0-2 against the Gusties last season, tying each of the two regular-season meetings (Jan. 11-12, 2013) before defeating GAC 3-2 in the MIAC Playoff Championship game (March 2). The Johnnies fought back to gain a 3-2 lead following an early 2-0 deficit, in a 3-3 tie at home before playing to a 1-1 tie the next night in St. Peter. The Johnnies went 0-for-7 on the power play during the weekend series, and Soley did not play in either game due to illness.
SJU earned its first MIAC Playoff Championship since 2003 and first trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament since 2005 with the 3-2 win in St. Cloud. Jason Johnson gave SJU a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 10:42 into the first period. Schyler Adams tied the game at 1-1 for Gustavus 2:12 into the second period. Senta gave the lead back to SJU four minutes later with a blistering shot from the point, the Johnnies' second power-play goal in as many chances. The Johnnies preserved their lead into the second intermission, but again, it didn't take long for the Gusties to tie it back up after the break. Just over three minutes into the third period, Andy Pearson capitalized on a 2-on-1 breakaway to knot it back up at 2-2. With just over three minutes to play, Hochsprung took a pass from Haeg, skated into the offensive zone against two GAC defenders and unleashed a shot Gustavus goaltender Tyler Venne. The rebound, however, bounced right to Hochsprung's backhand and into the wide-open net. Soley made 19 saves to improve to 15-4-1 on the season and 10-1-1 in his last 12 starts.
SERIES HISTORY: Dating back to the 1984-85 season, SJU leads the series with a 40-23-8 record in 71 previous meetings. The Johnnies have either defeated or tied Gustavus in 37 of the last 45 meetings (30-8-7) and are 20-4-2 against GAC at home since 1992-93 (18-2-2 in last 22 games at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud). SJU head coach Doug Schueller is 4-5-4 against GAC, including a 1-3-2 record in St. Peter.
