Box ScoreST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey scored three third-period goals to complete the weekend sweep of MIAC-champion Augsburg with a 4-2 victory on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
The Johnnies (12-9-4, 10-4-2 MIAC) will take their nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2 record) to St. Thomas for a MIAC Playoff semifinal game next Saturday, Feb. 27. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Cadet Ice Rink in Mendota Heights. The postseason meeting will be the first for the two teams on the ice since 2005 and the first at the Tommies' home rink since 2000.
SJU has now out-scored its opponents 43-21 over the last nine games, including a 26-5 margin in the third period alone.
Senior captain
Andrew Commers (Edina, Minn.) tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal 4:10 into the third period, with assists going to freshman defenseman
Sean Lang (Apple Valley, Minn.) and sophomore forward
Huba Sekesi (Germering, Germany). The Johnnies went 3-for-6 on the power play over the two games. Augsburg (15-8-2, 11-3-2 MIAC) entered the weekend second in all of NCAA Division III on the penalty kill (91.2 percent, 73-for-80) and had killed off 44 consecutive penalties over an 11-game span.
Lang scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, unassisted, at the 10:45 mark of the third. He intercepted an errant clearing pass and ripped a laser to the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season.
Commers ended the scoring with an empty-net goal, his seventh tally of the season, with 30 seconds to play. Lang and junior forward
Dan Voce (Princeton, Minn.) were credited with the assists.
Luke Dietsch gave the Auggies a quick 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the game, but Sekesi tied it up with his ninth goal of the season at the 11:19 mark of the first period. Sekesi now has eight points (3g/5a) over his last four games.
SJU out-shot Augsburg 51-26 in the game, including a 20-6 margin in the second period, but found itself down 2-1 after two periods thanks to Corbin Chapman's breakaway goal out of the penalty box with 4:27 left in the frame.
Senior goaltender
Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made 24 saves in the win, his 10th of the season (10-9-4 record).
