Box ScoreST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Thomas erased an early deficit with three straight goals and held on for a 3-2 win over Saint John's on Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
Senior
Phil Johnson (Duluth, Minn.) put SJU (11-8-5, 7-6-2 MIAC) on the scoreboard first, on the power play, with 5:43 left in the opening period. Assists were credited to senior forward
John Haeg (Lakeville, Minn.) and junior defenseman
Joe Freemark (Lakeville, Minn.). The helper enabled Haeg (33g/67a) to become the 21st Johnnie hockey player to reach 100 points for a career and the first since the 2004-05 season (Ryan Langenbrunner '06 and Darryl Smoleroff '06).
St. Thomas had a goal disallowed, a shot from the point from Chris Benson, with 3:15 left in the first period due to goaltender interference.
The Tommies (15-5-4, 9-3-3 MIAC) broke through, however, with a pair of goals in the second period from Jordan Lovick (2:59) and Connor McBride (17:58 on the power play) as UST out-shot the home team 18-7 in the frame.
A goal from Nick Nielsen 9:31 into the third period gave UST a 3-1 lead before junior
Tyson Fulton (Champlin, Minn.) cut the Johnnies' deficit to one with a nifty backhander 1:05 later, with an assist going to classmate
Andrew Commers (Edina, Minn.).
Junior goaltender
Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made 28 saves in the loss. UST out-shot the Johnnies 31-19 in the game, including a 28-14 advantage through the first two periods. The Tommies attempted only six shots in the third period, three of which reached the net, but SJU failed to get a shot on goal on two third-period power plays. Both teams were 1-for-3 on the man advantage in the contest.
The Johnnies end the regular season with a 7:30 p.m. return game at St. Thomas on Friday, Feb. 20, at the Cadet Ice Rink in Mendota Heights.
