Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's fourth line of forwards combined for nine points (3g/6a) in a 7-3 win over Bethel on Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

The Johnnies (7-9-2, 5-4-0 MIAC) erased an early 2-0 deficit with four straight goals and tacked on three more in the final 4:53 of the game.

Sophomore forward Sam Valerius (Maple Grove, Minn.) led SJU with two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner, and added an assist. His linemates, freshman Mitch Fritz (1g/2a; St. Cloud, Minn.) and junior Dan Voce (0g/3a; Princeton, Minn.), combined for the other six points on the fourth line.

Travis Payne gave Bethel (2-11-2, 1-6-0 MIAC) an early 1-0 lead with his seventh goal in the last three games 5:07 into the contest, and Justin Bonanno made it 2-0 with a breakaway goal 6:10 later. 



Sophomore Tyler Dunagan (Maple Grove, Minn.) cut the Johnnies' lead in half with his team-leading seventh goal of the season 50 seconds later, with assists going to classmate Huba Sekesi (Germering, Germany) and freshman defenseman Sean Lang (Apple Valley, Minn.).

Freshman forward Matt Colford (Champlin, Minn.) tied it with a power-play goal at the 14:42 mark of the first period. 

The Johnnies tallied two goals on their first three shots of the second period to gain a 4-2 lead 1:56 into the frame. Senior captain Andrew Commers (Edina, Minn.) gave SJU the lead 15 seconds in and Valerius added to it 1:41 later. SJU out-shot the Royals 46-24 in the game, including a 37-15 margin through the first two periods.

Tony Larson made it a one-goal game for BU with a power-play goal at the 10:59 mark of the second period. 

Valerius eased the stress of what was an even third period with his second goal of the game at the 15:07 mark. Fritz tallied an empty-netter for his first collegiate goal with 35 seconds remaining, and senior forward Neal Smith (Rogers, Minn.) ended the scoring with his sixth goal of the season 20 seconds later.

Senior goaltender Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made 21 saves to improve to 5-9-2 on the year (5-4-0 MIAC) and break his tie with Mark Rice (1995-98) for sole possession of third place on SJU's all-time wins list with 43 (43-29-8 career record). Soley also passed Craig Hidde (1988-91) for second place with 2,047 career saves in the victory.

The Johnnies travel to face BU for a 7 p.m. game on Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine.