Box ScoreBLAINE, Minn. – Saint John's hockey scored seven unanswered goals to complete the series sweep with a 7-1 win at Bethel on Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine.
SJU (8-9-2, 6-4-0 MIAC) has now scored seven goals in each of its last three games and 20 in the last three meetings with Bethel.
George Splichal gave BU (2-12-2, 1-7-0 MIAC) a quick 1-0 lead 2:59 into the game with a goal on a delayed penalty.
Freshman forward
Mitch Fritz (St. Cloud, Minn.) tied it up for SJU with the first of his two goals on the night, with 6:01 elapsed. Freshman forward
Robb Stautz (Roseville, Minn.) tallied the lone assist.
Freshman defenseman
Sean Lang (Apple Valley, Minn.) put the Johnnies ahead with what proved to be the game-winning goal, a nice one-timer in the slot from Stautz, at the 11:57 mark of the first period. Junior forward
Kevin Becker (Roseville, Minn.) added the second assist on the goal, which was Lang's sixth of the season.
Junior
Dan Voce (Princeton, Minn.) made it 3-1 with 24 seconds left in the opening frame, his fifth career goal, on a nice feed from Fritz at the side of the net.
Senior forward
Neal Smith (Rogers, Minn.) started the Johnnies' four-goal third period only 18 seconds into the final frame. Senior captain
Andrew Commers (Edina, Minn.) and junior forward
Dan McNamara (Grand Rapids, Mich.) were credited with the assists.
Becker added to the lead 43 seconds later, with assists going to freshman forward
Connor Kelly (Chaska, Minn.) and freshman defenseman
Joey Lindberg (Woodbury, Minn.).
Fritz made it 6-1 with a power-play goal, his third tally of the weekend and seventh point (3g/4a) in the last three games, at the 9:32 mark of the third period. Becker added the helper for his third point of the contest.
Smith ended the scoring with his second goal of the night, eighth of the season, at the 18:59 mark with an assist going to McNamara.
Senior goaltender
Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made 19 saves to improve to 6-9-2 (6-4-0 MIAC) on the year.
SJU out-shot the Royals 29-20 and successfully killed off all five BU power plays in the game.
The Johnnies return home to host St. Thomas for a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Jan. 29, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
