Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 15 Saint John's hockey jumped out to a 4-0 lead en route to a 6-2 win over Lawrence (Wis.) on Sunday, Jan. 11, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

Senior forward John Haeg (Lakeville, Minn.) gave SJU (7-3-4, 4-1-1 MIAC) an early 1-0 lead with his third goal of the season and 90th career point on a nice pass across the crease from classmate Nick Vatnsdal (Independence, Minn.) 2:45 into the game. Sophomore forward Dan McNamara (Grand Rapids, Minn.) collected the second assist.

The Johnnies added to the lead with a pair of goals, four-on-four, 34 seconds apart late in the first period. Vatnsdal made it 2-0 with a nice tip-in goal off a feed from junior defenseman Joe Freemark (Lakeville, Minn.) with 3:28 left. Senior forward John Carroll (Eagan, Minn.) tallied his fourth goal of the season 34 seconds later, with assists going to junior forward Neal Smith (Rogers, Minn.) and freshman defenseman J.D. Cotroneo (Woodbury, Minn.).

Sophomore forward Kevin Becker (Roseville, Minn.) extended the lead to 4-0 with his second goal of the season, on Haeg's second assist of the game, 3:16 into the second period.

Lawrence (5-9-1, 4-4-0 NCHA) owned the rest of the period, out-shooting the Johnnies 19-10 on goal. A blocked shot at the point from senior defenseman Nick Senta (Savage, Minn.) turned into an unassisted, breakaway goal for LU's Renato Engler at the 15:04 mark.

The Vikings cut their deficit to two with a power-play goal from Brendan Vetter 10 seconds into the man advantage with 1:03 left in the period.

The Johnnies sealed the win with two goals in the third period. McNamara tallied his third goal of the season, on an assist from Haeg, 8:15 into the third and senior forward Phil Johnson (Duluth, Minn.) ended the scoring with a power-play goal, his third of the season and fourth overall, with 3:12 remaining. Freemark and senior defenseman Wally Cossette (Maple Grove, Minn.) collected the assists.

Junior goaltender Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made 32 saves to improve to 6-2-4 on the season.

SJU out-shot the Vikings 40-34 in the game and was 1-for-3 on the power play.

With his four points (1g/3a) on the afternoon, Haeg (29g/64a) is now seven points away from becoming the 21st Johnnie to reach the 100-point plateau for a career.

SJU returns to conference play with a pair of games at Concordia-Moorhead, beginning with a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, Jan. 16, at the Moorhead Sports Center.